Choosers of the Slain
by Vyrexuviel
Summary: A continuation of Valkyrie. 5 years later, where are they now? Three original characters' points of view as suspicious events unfold... Now entertaining suggestions for a sequel!
1. Chapter 1 : Construction

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the

Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

Cadets Lisa Thomas, Gerald Taylor, and M'lara stood with the twenty one other recruits in the shuttlebay on an unknown asteroid in the forward Trojans, awaiting the arrival of their commanding officer. The cadets had been tapped for special duty at the end of their third year, and had been sent to an unmarked shuttle for transport to their assigned post. None of them had any idea what facility they were on, but they could guess. Lisa was a human, from the colony world of Tendara. Gerald was a half-Betazed, and an empath. Betazeds are full telepaths, but his mother had been human, so he was limited to sensing emotions, not thoughts. M'lara was the tallest of the trio, standing head and shoulders over her shorter companions. The tough Klingon girl had formed an unlikely friendship with the two other cadets, a friendship she defended as fiercely as her personal honor.

"I think it's some sort of scientific research base, probably studying how to integrate Borg technology with our own without letting the Borg stuff assimilate ours." Gerald, Gerry to his friends, had always been a bright student. Gifted with great intelligence and an almost psychic ability to diagnose circuitry faults, Gerry had hoped to be assigned to engineering on one of the Sovereign-Class vessels.

"You're nuts, Gerry, it has to be some sort of super-secret piloting school. Why else would they pick me?" Lisa had been the top pilot of her year every year since she came to the academy. In one blatantly unfair attempt to get her to fail, one of the other cadets in her class had programmed in a trio of Jem-Hadar attack fighters into her supposedly-routine shuttle piloting test. The fact that she managed to not only survive the assault, but also managed to disable all three of the attackers had gotten her a record score on her exam.

"It's obviously some sort of weapons training ground. They must be developing a new class of hand phaser here." M'lara's tall, graceful form belied the physical strength of the young Klingon woman. Although M'lara had always been a top pilot, top of her particular class in fact, she was rather reckless in her piloting, and preferred ground combat to space battle.

One of the five Vulcans raised an eyebrow at the trio. "It is illogical to speculate on the purpose of this facility without data."

Lisa grinned at the young man. "That doesn't stop us from trying though."

At that moment, the large door to the chamber opened, and a young man in an Operations uniform stepped through. He cast a level gaze over the assembled Cadets, who all snapped to attention. He nodded in approval as a new figure stepped in. Spines straightened all over the shuttlebay as the cadets attempted to stand straighter than they already were. The dark skinned Vulcan nodded to the Lt, who stepped back through the doorway and out of sight. Turning to the assembled cadets, he began.

"I am Commander Tuvok. You have been selected to undergo advanced training in preparation for an offer of joining a new branch of Starfleet."

The cadets murmured softly at that revelation, all but the Vulcans.

"You will be tested strenuously in all possible ways, then those chosen few who meet our requirements will be given the offer to enter the new organization. You will be tested on physical endurance, mental acuity, and psychological profile. Those who pass will be given the choice. You will not be told what you are joining until after you have made a pledge of secrecy."

Subdued whispers among the cadets were silenced as the legendary Commander spoke up again. "You were chosen because you have the traits we need for this new organization. Those who prove they have the stamina, patience, and aptitude will be given a place among the few who will lead the new organization."

He dropped his voice slightly. "Cadets, move out. Lt D'bonias will give you your assignments."

* * *

The next four weeks were perfect hell.

Lisa, not a particularly strong human, found herself sparing with M'lara on a regular basis. In that particular match she should have been knocked out easily, but she found that she had a slight advantage in speed that she used as much as she could.

In addition to the combat training, they were required to exercise and run around a large track encircling the asteroid's equator. They were also paired off to test each other in technical and philosophical disciplines. One group session ended with four of the participants being given honorable discharges from the program. The discussion had been about the ethics of combat, and if the infantries of old earth had been the deciding factor in that planet's numerous wars.

In the fourth week, they had begun training in variable-gravity fields, not only having to exercise in such conditions, but fight and work on computer circuits too. One exercise had them performing some minor repair when the gravity shut off, the area began to decompress, and the repair turned out to be a major one under a sudden time limit. Only Gerry got full marks in that test.

Also in the fourth week, they had a complete physical examination, down to their neural patterns. After that test, a surprising number of the cadets were sent home. They were down to a mere 12 out of the initial twenty four cadets by the end of the fourth week.

* * *

The cadets were waiting in a small classroom, waiting for their instructor to appear, when Lt D'Bonias entered. He called them to attention and the cadets snapped to.

Commander Tuvok himself entered the classroom, not their usual teacher. As the Lt passed out padds, he began to speak. "Those of you in this room have completed our training and tests to our satisfaction. You will be called in the order on your padds to meet with the commander of the unit you will be joining, should you accept her offer. You will either accept her offer, or you will be sent back to complete your fourth year at the academy. If you choose the later option, you will be required never to divulge what you are about to hear."

The first cadet was called, a Bolian, who moved to the door and stepped through. Of the three friends who had begun the training, all three of them were still here, the half-human, half-betazed Gerry almost dancing in his chair in the excitement he could feel in the room.

Eventually, he was called, spent five minutes in the room, and came back with stars in his eyes, reclaiming his place as Lisa Thomas was called. She rose, moved to the door, took a deep breath, and stepped through.

She was not expecting the person she saw in the small conference room.

* * *

Clad in a variant of the standard Starfleet uniform, the woman had heavy-soled boots, the usual pants, and a thicker jacket over her command-red undershirt. But what caught Lisa's attention were the swirling design of metal over the older woman's left eye, a similar design over the right hinge of her jaw and along her jawline.

The woman gestured to the only chair in the room, and Lisa sat heavily, staring in awe of the woman. She had recognized Annika Hansen instantly.

"Cadet Thomas. You are hereby invited to join Valkyrie Flight."

Lisa almost couldn't believe her ears. Join Valkyrie? She remembered the news stories at the time when Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant, but she couldn't believe that she, SHE was being asked to join the famous Annika Hansen in the rumored Flight of the Valkyries.

"You are no doubt aware of the existence of the Valkyrie ATIAS-"

"Um, pardon?"

Annika smiled slightly. "ATIAS. Advanced Tactical Integrated Armor Suit. The Valkyrie was the prototype for the suit you will be fitted for, should you choose to join. If you prefer, you may have a Starwind configuration instead, but I'd like you as a Valkyrie."

Lisa was stunned. A starsuit of her own? Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined anything like that. Her dearest dream was to someday fly between stars with nothing between her and the deep black of space, but she knew that was a dream she could never accomplish. And now, the next best thing to her heart's desire has been offered to her. She stared unseeingly at the woman before her for a few seconds before shaking herself and beaming at the older woman.

"I accept."

The corner of the older woman's mouth pulled up slightly, ruining the line of her elegant frown as she nodded. "Welcome to Valkyrie Flight, Cadet Thomas."

The famous woman held out a hand and Lisa only hesitated a moment before grasping it and being pulled to her feet. Annika nodded once and shooed her to the door.

Lisa didn't remember the rest of the wait, so lost was she in one thought.

"I'M GOING TO FLY!"

* * *

Starting the characters off. Stereotypical trio; the brain, the brawn and the brave. ^^; Please, read and review!


	2. Chapter 2 : Machination

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

...

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

Admiral Kathryn Janeway was excited. She didn't remember being this excited since her first command. Ever since she had returned her lost ship home to the Federation after five long years in the Delta quadrant without backup of any sort, leading an armada of Starfleet?s finest against the heart of the Borg Collective, the celebrated admiral had almost become synonymous with the dedication that Starfleet fostered in its captains. Picard himself had brought the Enterprise-E to Earth to congratulate her on a most stunning career.

Although Kathryn was overjoyed to be Admiral, she felt a sort of regret. Command had always been her strong suit. Not command of a starbase or planetary installation, nor even of an armada of ships. Just the command of a single ship, to go where and when she willed. Now, after five years commanding Starfleet Academy, she had received orders to report to Utopia Planetia shipyards. The top-secret orders had been signed by Admiral Necheyev herself, and carried no other information, but Janeway was sure she was going to be given command once more.

She gazed out of the shuttle's cockpit. Her heart raced in her chest as she gazed longingly at the huge Sovereign-class ship under construction in the main hanger of the shipyards, but the shuttle simply sailed past the huge USS Gagarin undergoing secondary hull construction. That ship was slated to be completed in 3 months. The USS Tripoli was in dry-dock undergoing a refit, and there were a number of other ships undergoing construction or refitting at the massive installation in Mars orbit.

Her breath caught as she saw a sealed hanger. Normally, the hangers were open to space, to allow radiative cooling to keep the ships at the space-cold temperatures needed to forge their durataininum hulls. A closed hanger indicated that not only was the hull for this vessel completed, but also that Starfleet didn't want anyone spying on the ship in question. It was a smaller hanger, usually used for the smaller ships, such as the Steamrunner, Saber, Akira, and even, her heart fluttered slightly, the Intrepid-class vessels.

Were they going to give Voyager back to her?

No, that ship had been set down on Earth as a museum of the Delta Quadrant and a monument to the perseverance of her crew. And a memorial to those who didn't make it home.

Kathryn's heart hammered in her chest as the shuttle slowed, Admiral Owen Paris moving out of the back of the shuttle to stand beside her as the shuttlebay doors opened, showing the interior of the hanger. Janeway's eyes lit up as the shuttle slid smoothly into the hanger, the doors closing to seal out prying eyes.

"She's a beauty, isn't she, Kathryn?"

Owen Paris grinned at the gleam in Janeway's eyes as she devoured the curving lines of the ship. Akira-class, she had the peculiar streamlined shape of that ship, the catamaran-hull and downward-curving nacelle pylons giving the ship an upside-down look compared to the more traditional ship design. But the Akiras were built for war, not exploration. 15 torpedo tubes and several phaser banks made the ship able to go toe-to-toe with Cardassian patrols alone and survive. The buzzing shapes of zero-gee worker pods around the phaser strips, nacelles and the rear upper section of the engineering "roll-bar" indicated where the work was progressing the most.

"It's lovely." Kathryn couldn't tear her eyes from the ship. As the shuttle arced down under it to dock, a scaffold came into view. Attached to the center of the 'roll-bar' and angling forward, it looked like a third nacelle pylon. Kathryn blinked at the unsightly addition to the otherwise pristine ship.

"And that is why the Phoenix is so special." Kathryn turned to gaze quizzically at the older admiral. He smirked slightly. "It's the superstructure for a new drive system. I'm surprised you haven't heard the rumors yet. After all, Seven of Nine helped design it."

Kathryn remembered then. There had been rumors flying around about some new project at the Theoretical Propulsion Group, some claiming the Borg were assisting in completing the Federation's first functional transwarp system. Others claimed that the TPG were working on a revolutionary new type of propulsion, something that Omega had made possible. As of yet, knowledge of Omega was something that had been limited to those working on the project and top-level commanders.

Janeway came back out of her reverie, realizing Admiral Paris was still talking. "- Approximately a 10% increase in cruising speed, though her top speed suffered slightly as a result. The warp core upgrades are good, but a new type of warp core needs to be devised to take advantage of it to the fullest. I hear Leah Brahms is working on that too."

Janeway grinned slightly at that. Leah Brahms had been like a kid shown a new kind of toy when shown the schematics for the Omega-fueled warp core that Annika had designed. She surprised a sudden longing for her betrothed. Annika was on assignment with Valkyrie Flight somewhere in the asteroids, but she hadn't heard from the statuesque ex-drone for nearly a month, since her reassignment.

Owen Paris was continuing, "She's being permanently outfitted with the ablative hull armor technology, which will strip her of phaser capacity, but which will allow her to survive almost any conditions." He winked at the smaller woman. "I've heard it would stand up to a close proximity supernova, but don't go blowing up a star to test it, hmm?" Janeway wrinkled her nose at him, though her eyes had lit up at the suggestion of a close-approach to a star in its death throws.

"I don't know the specifics of the new drive, but it should be ready in a few months. We're meeting with high-level talks with the Romulans right now."

Janeway blinked. "The Romulans?"

"We hope them to allow us to install a cloaking device. We worked out a compromise like this once before, with the Defiant, and that came off well. We hope to do the same thing again, and the Romulans seem almost tripping over themselves to agree to it." He chuckled softly at her expression. "After all, your first mission...? He paused dramatically, smirking down at the smaller woman and Kathryn glared at him, around Force 5.

"Your first mission is to the Delta Quadrant."

* * *

New-minted Ensign Lisa Thomas, third wingman, first Wing of Valkyrie Flight, sat back in her chair and squirmed in pleasure. She hadn't thought she'd make it through the intense months of training to use the new starsuits. She rubbed the back of her neck, feeling the warm design of metal at the base of her skull. The implant had been remarkably painless, given the horror stories the others had told her about being strapped down and their skulls sliced open. She now had a direct connection to her cerebral cortex, allowing her to interface with her starsuit as Annika did hers. Each starsuit was initialized to a given person, and forever after would be unable to be worn by any other person. The input feeds were set to her brain configuration, and would never work for another person.

The rest of the ceremony went smoothly, Commander Tuvok pinning the Ensign tabs on the collars as Major Annika Hansen called the names and congratulated the graduates of the Valkyrie program. M'lara sat beside her, and Gerald on the large Klingon woman's other side. Lisa bounced in her seat as she waited impatiently for the address to be over and for them to receive their formal orders.

"Rise." Tuvok's quiet command carried instant obedience. The Major turned to face the assembled graduates. Of the 12 who had qualified, only six had made it through the rigorous training. Four had been given medical discharges when complications had arisen during their implantation of the neural interface, and one had died on the table. His name was the first entered into the roll of the Valkyries' honored fallen, and would be the start of a long and proud history. The last had found out too late that he had an acute case of acrophobia when presented with apparently naked space.

"You are the first graduates of the Valkyrie Project," Major Hansen intoned, "and as such I will hold you to the highest standards for efficiency and excellence. I will be leading your Wing myself, and will require you to report back to Valhalla Base to act as instructors when your term of duty is satisfactorily discharged."

Lisa gulped a bit at that requirement. She was a top-notch pilot, but she had an intuitive grasp of spaceflight, and that's something you're either born with or can never acquire.

"You will report to the hanger bay for your deep-space training run in 2 days. The Volga will be here to transport you to the Hood. Dismissed."

The young officers filed out, and to their credit, the buzz of gossip only began once the doors closed.

* * *

Seven shadowy figures sat at a table. It was nearly a full circle, encompassing a pit-like depression in the floor. The opening in the table contained steps down to the pit, which contained a chair. This chair, and the floor on which it stood, were rotatable, and could be turned by either the person occupying it, or the people seated at the table, so it could face any one of the chairs at the table, while at the same time, being lower than the table, it conveyed a sense of interrogation.

The man in the central chair certainly felt like he was being interrogated.

"You promised us the Borg would be amenable to our plans."

He mopped his brow and sighed. "I indicated that I believed that, given appropriate stimulus, she would be capable of achieving our goals. I did not state that she would hold our ideals as well."

The chair shifted to the side, facing one of the shadowy figures to the left. "Explain."

"Given the proper situation, she would be most efficient in initiating the circumstances we seek. Her skills and abilities would reduce our timeframe from several years to as short as a few months."

A low murmur came from the shadow-shrouded people, then a woman's voice spoke as the man in the chair was turned to face someone on the right. "What situation would be most conducive to our plans?"

The man smiled, the bright light shining down on him seeming to highlight his words as he spoke. "The Borg is deeply protective of Admiral Janeway. She reacts with utmost speed and with maximal force to protect the woman, and shows no compassion for her enemies. If certain tensions develop, then she might start the chain of events leading to our desired outcome within a few months. Given a proper incentive, or better yet, if Janeway were terminated by those we oppose, she would be unstoppable in her exercise of her wrath."

The chair rotated to face the man in opposite the steps down to the pit. "Delineate what circumstances would bring about our designs most quickly."

"If Janeway were to meet her end on the upcoming mission to Romulus, it would induce the Borg attached to her into massive and devastating retaliation. Even if the Borg were destroyed in the attack, it would suffice to sting the Romulans into retaliating, which would seal their fate. Our contacts in the Romulan underground indicate the Tal Shiar are only just barely hanging on to power. If a single strike by a Federation citizen could damage or destroy many of their ships, they would loose their influence in the Romulan Senate and the Empire would begin a slow decline into a state where we could annex it at our leisure."

A soft murmuring deliberation among the shadowy figures resolves into a soft murmur of Ayes. "Very well. Begin setting things up. We expect results within the month."

The light falling on the man in the chair shut off, and the shadowy forms around the table vanished.

* * *

AN: Whew! Sorry for the long time without an update. A combination of a missing beta and lack of inspiration kept me from getting this done until now. However, to make up for it, I have a double upload! don't get used to it. As always, please, if you read it, REVIEW IT! ^^;


	3. Chapter 3 : Liberation

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

Lisa shivered in anticipation as the alcove for her starsuit opened for her. She swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. Simulations based on telemetry on the holodeck were one thing, this was completely different. Hesitating only a little, she stepped into the alcove. Her formfitting bodysuit had been designed to help her interface with the suit the way Major Annika Hansen did hers, but with fewer of the implants Major Hansen had, she had to use this bodysuit to convey her wishes to her starsuit.

As the metal boots closed around her feet, she shivered. Lisa wasn't exactly claustrophobic, but being encased like this did cause her some trepidation. The metal gloves were extended and she slid her bodysuited hands into them. Gripping the gloves from within, she waited patiently as the alcove's machinery went into high gear, assembling the leg pieces around her shapely legs with blurring speed. The chest piece, custom fitted to Lisa's torso, was mated with the back plate and the two fused together with tiny electrical discharges.

Hip-armor seemed to assemble itself around her and the outer carapace began to take shape as the alcove began attaching the arm braces to her. The chest carapace began assembling itself as the neck seals were attached, the huge framework of the wings attaching with weighty clunks to her shoulder blades. Impulse engines, and the warp coils were attached and armored over quickly as Lisa shivered slightly in the confines of the metal cocoon that was rapidly assembling around her. The helmet swung down, the two halves of the open-faced helm sliding home around her head and making her stiffen. Then the faceplate began assembling itself as the helm snapped shut around her, leaving her in total darkness.

A light flashed into her eyes, a vectorized heads-up display of the other side of the alcove. A progress meter indicated the suit's powering up, using its auxiliary generators. As the last bits of armor were added to the arms and wings, the glowing-blue sphere that was the Omega containment unit slid into place just between the wings on her back. The lights of her HUD got brighter and a soft, somewhat familiar voice spoke in her ear. "Primary power unit installed. Running systems check."

Lisa waited in growing excitement, mentally reviewing her orders. This was her first time donning the starsuit that had been painstakingly customized to her specifications. Her orders had read to don her starsuit and use it in sublight mode to rendezvous with the USS Hood for escort to an unremarkable section of deep space near the Sol system. There, they were to disembark and perform test runs in trios, getting the feel for their suits and the limitations of them, then return to the Hood for transport back to base. As the Hood did not carry alcoves to assemble or disassemble the starsuits, the members of Valkyrie Flight were required to don their suits beforehand. A specialized cargo pod had been outfitted to allow the Hood to transport the suits without the crew needing to know what exactly it was they were transporting. Total time allotted for this mission was 6 hours, as the suits could not be removed during that time.

The HUD suddenly vanished and Lisa felt a moment of panic. Then a gentle coolness on the back of her skull heralded a crystal-clear return of vision. Not just vision, but a sense of freedom from encasement in the suit. The gentle voice spoke again, this time seeming to come from within her own head. "Primary power systems online. Interface at 100%. Propulsion systems offline. Weapons systems offline. Communications systems online."

The clamps holding her feet and hands in place disengaged and Lisa stepped forward. The unfamiliar clank that came from her foot touching the hanger floor startled her a bit, then she remembered she was wearing her starsuit. That caused her to give a little shiver of delight. Something flicked just out of the range of her vision and she turned slightly, realizing that her shiver had extended even to the purely mechanical wings, now slightly unfurled. Testing, she tried to extend the wing, and it flexed as if it were flesh and blood, not a mechanical construct of duralloy and conduits.

Getting used to having two extra appendages was going to take some time, Lisa realized, watching the other wingmen step from their alcoves. Although all the starsuits were the same gleaming brushed metal, it was easy to tell which contained a girl. For some reason, the suits had been formed to accentuate the lithe figures of those within, and their formfitting nature meant they hugged EVERY curve, including the pair on the chest. The boys, however, seemed more powerfully built than the girls, broader across the shoulders, and their faceplates' glowing eyes seemed pulled into a perpetual glare.

Lisa shook her head slightly to clear it, realizing she had been staring at one of her fellow wingmen, and set about figuring out how to open the faceplate. it only took a thought, and soon she had the plate peeling back and disassembling itself to fold back against the top of her head. For a bit, it was very disconcerting, since she could still see through the suit's sensors as well as with her own eyes, a bit like double vision. Another thought, and the sensor data had been reduced to mere data tags on objects in her line of vision.

Smiling at her success, she moved over to where she saw a very tall feminine starsuit standing next to a shorter male version. The two of them turned to face her, their almost featureless faces intimidating at first, until they peeled back and revealed the smiling faces of her friends. M'Lara was grinning like an idiot, flexing her wings almost constantly as she got herself used to them. Gerry was grinning so wide Lisa thought he might split his head open.

Just then, the door opened and the familiar figure of Major Hansen appeared in the room. Despite not being in a starsuit at the moment, she carried herself with such grace and flowing power that one got the impression she could take out a starsuit while unarmored if she had to. The lieutenant behind her called, "AttennnnnSHUN!" and the starsuited wingmen formed into their units.

Major Hansen stood in the at-ease position before the ranks of armored men and women. Her ice-blue gaze reached every eye, even those of the people who hadn't figured out how to open their helmets yet. She spoke in a quiet, but carrying tone. "Our orders are as follows. Report to the upper hanger deck and take up your position in the modified runabout there. We will be picked up by the Hood in 15 minutes. More orders will be issued when we are dropped off an hour after we are retrieved. Dismissed."

The wingmen nodded and began filing towards the exit. A few people banged into each other, not used to the extra space their wings required yet. Major Hansen smiled slightly and moved to her own alcove. It was time to get dressed.

* * *

The gutted and hollow runabout lay drifting in space as the USS Hood warped away. The cramped interior was about to very much less so. Major Hansen rolled her eyes inside her faceplate at yet another muffled comment about someone's wing getting in another person's face. "I have received word. The Hood is out of sensor range. We may now disembark. Wingman Thomas, open the doors."

Lisa shivered slightly in anticipation of getting out of this ridiculously cramped space. Thirteen people were not meant to be crammed into the confines of a runabout for 45 minutes at a stretch. She slapped the control to open the doors, the dampening field that kept out prying sensor beams dropping as the sealed door cracked open, admitting a view of gently turning stars. Lisa's breath caught as she gazed longingly out of the runabout.

"Seal your helms. Exit in reverse order and assemble on the underside of the runabout. Make sure your boots are magnetized before exiting, I don't want to have to go hunting after anyone." As the last onto the runabout, that meant Lisa would be the first to emerge. She wriggled in anticipation, waiting for the door to open completely before tucking her wings tight against her back and giving the mental command to magnetize her boots. Carefully, she stepped off the floor and planted her foot on the surface of the runabout.

Within a few more minutes, the wingmen were marshaled on the runabout's underside. Three ranks of four gleaming-silver starsuited figures faced the night-black figure of their commander. Her voice spoke clearly in each of her unit's ears. "We run our drills in trios. The rest of you who have not run a drill will remain attached to the runabout. I will escort you on your first run, then return to the runabout for the next trio. You will wait where I place you until I return, or you receive orders to move. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Major!"

"Good. Now, by the numbers."

* * *

Lisa's group was third. She had M'Lara and a Vulcan in her trio, Gerry had been assigned to the second trio. The gleaming-black figure of the Major's starsuit appeared high and right of the runabout, coming in to a stop hovering near the prow of the little craft. "Group three. Disengage your magnetic boots and push off slowly."

Lisa gulped and mentally commanded her starsuit's boots to disengage from the metallic hull beneath her. Then she pushed off gently from the runabout, slowly rising from the surface. M'Lara pushed a little too hard, rising a bit faster than the other two. The Major didn't seem to notice, but Lisa grabbed her friend's leg to keep her from floating too far away.

"I will be issuing the codes to activate your impulse drive only. Once you have drive capability, you will follow me to the coordinates I specify. You will remain there until issued orders to move."

Lisa nodded and waited. After a second or so, a small dial appeared in her lower right field of vision. It quickly filled, and the soft voice of her starsuit's internal computer whispered in her ear, "Impulse drive online."

The black figure of the major's suit turned in space, the woman flattened out in a diving posture, and the rear edges of her wings flared red with impulse light. Lisa, M'Lara and the Vulcan did likewise, and Lisa's heart jumped as she felt the flare of her wings' drive pushing her forward. Within seconds she had figured out the sequence of commands to increase or decrease the power, and flexing her wings changed the angle of the thrust. Shortly she found herself doing barrel rolls and whooping in joy, flattening out on her back compared to the other two in her trio and accelerating to keep pace with the Major.

Annika grinned behind her faceplate. This one took to the starsuit as if she were born to it. Making a mental note to test this one strenuously in the tests, she led the trio to a spot in space about a hundred thousand kilometers away from the runabout. "Wait here." She turned over and her wings flared red as she sped back to the runabout.

* * *

A dull 5 minutes later, the call came over Lisa's comm. "We will now begin practicing ordered flight. I will escort each of the trios for 5 minutes and instruct you in maintaining a proper distance between wingmen. Once I am satisfied you can keep in order, I will assemble the Wing and we will practice flying in order."

Lisa waited impatiently until the gleaming form of the major suddenly materialized in front of her. She was so startled she jerked back, her wings flaring and a quick jab of impulse sent her hurtling away from the Major. A soft chuckle sounded in her ear."Come back, Ensign Thomas."

Sheepishly, Lisa flipped over and flew back to the group. "Sorry, Major."

"Don't be. It's a sign you're getting used to your suit. Now, follow me. Keep a minimum distance of a meter between outstretched wingtips, and I don't want any more acrobatics from you for now, Ensign Thomas."

Lisa's cheeks burned as she nodded and formed up with the other two in her trio.

* * *

The rest of the next two hours were uneventful. More than once, Lisa had to be told to stop showing off, but it was always with an amused tone in the Major's voice. At last, they were told to form up for a mock attack run. Six of the wingmen were told to remain on the runabout, and the other six were told to scatter about it. "Use your proximity sensors and pick a spot on the runabout. I want you to get as close to it as you fly as you dare. I also want you to do this at as high a speed as you dare. The point of this exercise is to accustom you to the maneuverability of your suit. They can come within centimeters of a hull and flash past at full impulse and do no more harm than scare anyone near a window. But this is important practice. In a real battle, your wingtip disruptors would be firing as you approached. As they're fixed-forward, you need to dive directly at your target and peel off at the last second. I want you to practice doing this at no more than a quarter impulse for now, but by the end of this session, I want all of you doing attack runs at full impulse."

Lisa felt her gut tighten in excitement. She was part of the first wave, and would remain on the runabout as the second wave ran an attack pattern. Pulling back to a few tens of thousands of kilometers, she picked a spot about a foot away from where M'Lara was standing on the runabout. She waited until the Major's firm voice spoke in her ear. "Begin your run."

She arched in a graceful dive, hands outstretched before her as her wings spread and flared ruby, sending her speeding at the slowly rotating runabout. Her lips pulled back in a fierce grin as she saw M'Lara start moving away when she realized some wingman was diving right at her. Lisa couldn't restrain a yell of triumph as she peeled off and almost brushed her friend, speeding past the runabout. She heard M'Lara's voice swearing loudly at the whomever it was that buzzed her.

* * *

The last exercise of the day was the most exhilarating for Lisa. Having proved themselves able to handle themselves at sublight speeds, Major Hansen was going to let them have their first taste of warp flight! Lisa's HUD showed a smaller dial on the lower left of her display now, showing warpdrive status, a number to the right of the dial, showing zeros to the third decimal place. "We will be flying for a short while at Warp One. I want you to get used to the sensations in your suit at warp without going so fast you can't keep up with the sensory deluge. Your sensors are designed to give you the data on your immediate surroundings at sublight speeds, but at warp they extend their range towards the direction you're going. This is to give you adequate time to react to something in your path before you run into it. I don't need to remind you what happens when an object moving at warp hits something stationary."

Lisa shivered slightly. She had seen the news holos a few years ago, when a private yacht on a run between two planets in the Centauri system had slammed into a freighter just exiting a parking orbit. It had taken them months to find all the wreckage, and a year to determine which pieces had belonged to whom, and who had been on which ship.

"You each will proceed in a parallel course for five lightminutes, then drop to impulse, reverse, and return. You will be spaced a thousand kilometers apart to avoid complications from minor course inaccuracies. Spread out now." Major Hansen took the central position, the wingmen spread out on either side of her. When she gave the order, Lisa increased power.

The sensation of jumping to warp in her starsuit was beyond anything she had imagined.

The stars began to distort, the characteristic whine of the warpdrive, and a sudden flash from her outer forward wing edges heralded her sudden transition to that otherverse where light travels so very much faster than it does in this one. Ripping along at warp one, Lisa shuddered, inhaling as her eyes widened automatically. Sensory data deluged into her, and she was immediately aware of everything in her path in range, down to the smallest particle that could harm her. Her deflector shields fully charged, she could deflect everything short of a craft her own size. The way light distorted through the warp bubble around her caused the light from nearby stars to streak into a line of color diffraction.

The sensation of speed had always brought with it an exhilarating lift to Lisa's spirit, and here she was. In a craft no larger than her own body, controlling it as an extension of herself, and streaking along at the ultimate speed limit in her home universe! She felt as if her heart would burst, it was racing so fast. Her breathing was ragged as she urged her suit faster, disobeying to nudge the warp factor up higher. The burst of acceleration that accompanied the flare of her wings, the way they folded into the attitude of a diving hawk, brought with it a keen sense of excitement. Her heart had always yearned for this, and now she had at last attained the unattainable, her heart's desire.

Dropping back to impulse was like leaving a home she hadn't known she had. The sense of disappointment was keen, a soul-deep ache as she checked her position automatically. She was half a lightsecond out of place, but a couple minutes at full impulse made up the difference. The return journey was almost as intense for her as the initial jump to warp had been, and she knew she could never again be content with piloting a mere shuttlecraft, no matter how maneuverable.

Major Hansen was waiting for them when they arrived back at the runabout. "We have five minutes until the USS Gibraltar is arriving to pick us up. Secure yourself inside for the trip back. If any of you have to use a reclamation chamber, you'll have to deal with it until we get back, the suits don't have that feature yet." The sound of a grin marked that last sentence, and the way one of the suits moved, someone must have wet themselves. Lisa grinned widely as she realized she hadn't had that misfortune. She and the rest of Valkyrie Flight clambered into the gutted runabout and strapped down.

* * *

Lisa sighed as she stepped into the alcove in the hanger bay of Valhalla Base. She had had such a wonderful time, she didn't want it to end yet. But her stomach was a yawning pit, and she desperately needed to use the restroom. She gripped the handholds as she stepped into the harnesses for her boots, triggering the automatic extraction procedure. Within minutes, she was released from her metal-and-circuitry cocoon and stepped out of the metal boots, clad only in her formfitting bodysuit. There was a bit of a line at the women's room, but she quickly took care of that necessity. In the mess hall, she sat with M'Lara and Gerry, as usual, and from the way Gerry was acting, he had been the one to loose control during the last jump. M'Lara was giving him a good-natured ribbing when Lisa sat down, the human girl having changed into her more-normal uniform.

"I hope you didn't wet yourself too, Thomas." M'Lara grinned at the human girl, who winked back.

"Nope. Though..." she lowered her voice to a whisper, blushing as she leaned closer, "I did feel as if I creamed my suit when I jumped to warp."

M'Lara's eyes widen in surprise, then the Klingon grinned. "Now, that, I could see you doing. You've always loved flying more than either of us, so you'd be in heaven."

M'Lara had almost run into another starsuit more than once, and one time, Lisa was still not sure how, she had gotten her port wing twisted and spun out of control until Major Hansen had manually pulled the wing back into position. M'Lara still twitched her shoulders, but then, all the wingmen did after that. They were still getting used to not having wings again.

Lt D'Bonias entered the mess hall at that moment, scanning the faces of the wingmen until he caught Lisa's eye. He grinned and moved over with that easy, rolling gait of his, and stopped near their table. "Ensign Thomas. Major Hansen has requested that you meet her in the hanger bay. You may finish your meal, if you wish, but don't keep her Highness waiting." He winked and moved off to get his own meal.

Lisa looked wide-eyed at her friends. "What do you think she wants me for?" Her voice squeaked upward.

"I dunno, but you'd better hurry and find out." Gerry grinned at her as Lisa pushed her meal toward the half-Betazed. She nodded and rose, quickly heading out of the mess hall.

* * *

Annika smiled slightly. This Ensign Thomas was highly promising. She had displayed an almost intuitive grasp of the interface, and had wound up exceeding all of Annika's expectations of her. She would be one to watch, and with a bit more training, she might wind up the first true officer of the Valkyrie Flight.

The doors slid open with that characteristic whoosh, and Ensign Thomas stood at attention. Annika nodded and eyed the young girl. Fit, athletic, eager to please, and driven as no one else in the Flight was, Thomas might make a good second in command.

"I suppose you're wondering why I summoned you. I've been reviewing your telemetry and found a few discrepancies."

Lisa felt her gut tighten as an icy hand gripped her heart. "Y-yes, Ma'am."

Annika's eyebrow rose, allowing herself an inward smile. "You exceeded Warp one. I gave specific instructions not to do so."

Lisa hung her head. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I just... It was just such a wonderful feeling, I couldn't help myself. I needed to go faster."

To her surprise, Major Hansen smiled. "Just as I thought. You're a born starsuit pilot, Ensign Thomas. You grasped the interface the quickest of the Flight, you control your motions almost instinctively, and you have no adverse reactions to the piloting experience." She straightened. "I'm going to give you individual tutoring. I need someone to take over command of Valkyrie Flight if anything happens to me, and I need someone who can react instantly in that line, since any situation that could render me out of the fight is likely to be a complete disaster."

Lisa felt her jaw drop and her eyes bug out of her head. "Y-you want me to command the Valkyries?" Her voice squeaked on the third word.

Major Hansen actually laughed. "No, at least not yet. You're not ready for that level of responsibility yet. No, I want to train you to lead the second Wing of Valkyries, and take control of the Flight if it becomes necessary."

Lisa's initial shock over the revelation was giving way to a mixture of sheer joy and trepidation. The combination was gnawing away at what was left of her appetite. "B-but I never took any command classes."

Annika nodded. "I will be instructing you in those subjects myself. In addition, I'll be developing tactics to use the Valkyries as a unit in combat, and I'll need someone else to help coordinate those tactics. You're the most intuitive pilot I've seen, second only to Lt Paris."

Lisa's eyes widened again. Tom Paris had been her idol for the past 3 years, since she had learned all about his piloting in the Delta Quadrant. The compliment from someone who knew him well was just too much for her. Tears of joy began to spill down her cheeks as she beamed up at the taller woman, straightening her spine and saluting with a fierce grin. "I'll do my best, Ma'am!"

Annika couldn't help but grin back." I expect nothing less than perfection from you, Ensign."

Lisa felt as if she could float off the floor.

* * *

AN: And another one done! ^^; Don't get used to the rapid-fire updates, though, I'm still a college student, and with my coursework picking up, I'll be updating less. So anyway, REVIEW PLEASE! if you've gotten this far, why not click the button down there?


	4. Chapter 4 : Conflagration

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

The primal scream of fear, horror, pain, and anguish that shrieked across the open channel to the Valkyrie Flight sent a chill to Lisa's heart. Already beating rapidly with the adrenaline rush of being in a real battle, the scream froze her to sudden stillness. She turned, as if in slow motion, staring in horror at the expanding ball of flame, gas and debris, which was the shuttlecraft holding Admiral Janeway and her aide. Her eyes widened and her lips formed a single soundless word.

"No...."

* * *

Major Hansen was unusually friendly on this trip. The Valkyrie Flight had been installed in the USS Phoenix earlier that week. The ship had its new nacelle installed, but the new jump drive hadn't been installed yet. The Theoretical Propulsion Group experts had been having trouble adapting it to a ship the size of the Phoenix. Until they had the problems ironed out, the extra nacelle was providing housing for extra antimatter pods, extending the range of the ship. Now, the modified Akira class ship was on course to the Romulan Neutral Zone, to finalize the treaty hammered out long-distance for the cloaking device to be installed in the Phoenix.

Ensigns Lisa and Gerry were playing tri-dimensional chess (Gerry was winning as usual), with M'Lara looking on with mild interest when Major Hansen came into the lounge. Despite being off-duty, the Major never wore anything but her uniform, the heavy boots rather odd for shipboard use, but Lisa assumed the Major had a reason for the affectation. Today, Major Hansen stopped by the replicator and murmured something to the machine, its characteristic whine and glow fading as the Major picked up a slightly steaming cup. She sat in a chair near the window and sipped her drink as the rest of Valkyrie Flight whispered in small groups and pairs. The Major almost never came down here in her off-duty. It had been common knowledge that the Admiral and the Major were an item among the Valkyries, seeing as how the Admiral had kissed the Major when they came on board.

The chime of a yellow alert suddenly attracted the attention of the Flight, and Admiral Janeway's calm, confident voice spoke, "All hands to your stations, Valkyries prepare for launch."

The Major rose smoothly and nodded to her Flight. "Suit up and meet in the forward hanger."

The door slid open for her, and the Valkyries hurried to their alcoves in the main hanger deck. Lisa hurriedly changed in one of the two the small locker rooms off the main hanger, slipping out of her uniform and into the formfitting bodysuit that allowed her to interface with her starsuit. Still sealing the tabs as she emerged, she picked out her alcove, the starsuit within still unassembled. She quickly stepped into the opened boots and began the process of suiting up. The duratainium shell and articulated armor plating would withstand a direct hit from a starship-mounted phaser without damage, even without the shields up. With them up, it could stand a close approach to a star without significant impairment, and a mere photon torpedo would be no problem, though it would degrade the shields eventually.

The suit was fused together around her as she fought down her rising excitement, trying to remain as calm and collected as the major did under fire. At last, the helmet closed around her head, her world going dark for an instant before the cool connectors found the implant at the base of her skull, and she could suddenly see again. Her view was highlighted with a vectorized graphic of the world around her, her senses augmented by the sensors in the suit.

"Valkyries, stand ready." Lisa nodded, stepping out of her alcove and taking her place at the Major's right. She was second wing commander of the Valkyries, having been trained to command them if anything should happen to the Major. She and Major Hansen had become, if not friends, then at least close coworkers. She still harbored a mild hero worship for the woman who had designed and built the means for her to live her dream, feeling a sort of gratitude towards the Major that none of the others did.

* * *

Admiral Janeway gazed out at the warbird that had decloaked just on the Romulan side of the Federation boundary of the Neutral Zone. She sighed softly, realizing that old habits die hard, and she had nearly sent her ship into battle-readiness at the first sign of a decloaking vessel. She glanced at Lt Kim, nodding for him to open a channel. A second later, the Romulan commander appeared on her viewscreen.

"Greetings Admiral Janeway. I am Commander Tarik. I have been sent by the Romulan High Command to escort you to Romulus."

Janeway bowed and smiled to the Romulan, who glowered back. "Please convey my thanks to your superiors. I'm sure this will allay any misgivings your people have."

"We shall see." And the Commander was gone.

Lt Cmdr Tom Paris rolled his eyes once the channel was closed. "Pleasant guy."

"Tom." The mild rebuke in Janeway's voice had Harry Kim smiling at his best friend's discomfort. "Match course and speed."

The Warbird turned, heading back into Romulan space.

* * *

About three hours later, the Phoenix was nearing the Romulan system. Admiral Janeway had dropped Yellow Alert about two hours ago, but Major Hansen had ordered them to remain in their suits. Lisa had asked her on a private channel what the problem was, but the Major hadn't replied. Now, Lisa was feeling her stomach flutter and her heart quicken. She felt as if the Major was waiting for some impending danger, but she couldn't tell when or where it was going to come from. The Major, never one for extraneous motion, was pacing the length of the hanger deck, going in a wide circle round and round, as if she were a caged tiger circling her cage, trying to find a way out.

Twice, Lisa had tried to talk to the Major on one of her passes, but been ignored, and once she had been brushed aside when she tried to touch the Major. Now, she had resigned herself to keeping pace with the long legged woman, her suit's wings tucked back out of the way as she walked, moving as easy in the ton of metal and ceramics as she would in her uniform due to the armored suit's pseudomusculature intercepting her motor control impulses and converting them into motions of the suit instead of muscular contractions.

She hoped that whatever it was that Major Annika Hansen was waiting for, it would hurry up and arrive.

* * *

Admiral Janeway exited the turbolift just as Major Hansen arrived. She noted the starsuited figure following the Major, guessed that this must be Ensign Lisa Thomas, the promising member of Valkyrie Flight. Annika stopped near the smaller woman, her faceplate unfurled as she gazed down at her beloved. "Admiral, I strongly protest this course of action."

"I'm aware of your feelings, Major. But I must bow to our hosts' wishes in this."

"I do not wish for you to expose yourself to danger like this."

"And they're looking for a reason to blast us out of the sky, Annika. I can't take the risk of starting a war."

The Major bowed her head in grudging assent. "Very well. Allow me to accompany your shuttle."

The Admiral shook her head. "You know I can't do that, Annika, though I would if I could, if only for the moral support. I have to go unarmed and with only my aide." The petite Admiral nodded to the tall man beside her, Commander Hutchinson, a promising member of the diplomatic corps.

Major Hansen sighed and bowed her head, startling Lisa with her next words. "Very well, beloved. Just come home safe."

The Admiral's storm-grey eyes softened to a cloudy blue as she gazed up at the older woman's ice blue ones, "I will. I promise."

With those parting words, she stepped across to the class-four shuttle being prepped for departure.

Lisa watched her commanding officer with wide eyes as Major Hansen, the coldest woman she ever knew, brushed tears away.

* * *

The shuttle launched on schedule, heading out of the forward shuttle bay doors. Admiral Janeway sighed softly, leaning back in the pilot's chair as she laid in a course that would bring them close to the warbird for final escort to Romulus. It was part of the agreement that the Phoenix would remain outside the orbit of the furthest planet of the Romulan system, and she would not be allowed onboard any Romulan ship. Until after the treaty was signed and the delivery of the cloaking device was finalized, she would remain either onboard her shuttle or in the Romulan VIP quarters.

The first impact of the disruptor cannon on the warbird crippled her ship's warp drive.

* * *

Annika watched from the open shuttle bay as her Admiral's shuttle departed. The bay doors had remained open on her order after the ship had left, only the magnetic field kept in the air pressure. Her body remained tense and rigid as she watched the ship near the warbird. At the first sign that the ship was about to fire, her voice roared through the hanger. "VALKYRIES! TO ME!"

Her faceplate snapped shut around her face as she ran towards the doors, flinging herself through them and into space beyond.

* * *

The Valkyries scrambled to the doors, following their leader into battle as the Phoenix surged forward. The ship may not have phasers anymore, but her photon torpedo launchers were still intact, and she prepared to fill the sky with the deadly projectiles as she rushed to help her shuttle. On the bridge, Captain Roberta Harris stood rigid as she watched her charge's ship being blasted at by the traitorous Warbird.

"Deploy armor."

With that order, the former phaser arrays began charging, and gleaming metal plates began materializing all over the ship, beginning with the forward tips of the three nacelles and the forward edge of the saucer and working their way back, finishing just in time to deflect the warbird's latest attack on the shuttle.

* * *

Annika pushed her suit to the limit, racing after the badly damaged shuttlecraft and her beloved trapped inside. She noted absently that Ensign Thomas had marshaled the Valkyries into a coherent wedge formation, with her at the apex. She began decelerating as she neared the shuttle, her sensors scanning the occupants and breathing a sigh of relief when she saw that her beloved was still alive and unharmed. "Gamma Wing, lock on and boost the shuttle back to the Phoenix. Alpha and Beta Wings, encircle and interdict."

The second wing of Valkyrie flight, the four Starwind suits, flew close and locked onto the shuttlecraft with their integrated tractor beams. They began slowly turning the ship around and boosting gently back towards the heavily armored Phoenix, while the rest of the Flight spread out in a globular pattern around the damaged ship, ready to block incoming fire with their own bodies if needs be.

* * *

Janeway rubbed her forehead, groaning. She was sure that jolt had slammed her into the console so hard she had broke her nose. She removed her hand and noted the blood there. She turned and saw Hutchinson getting to his chair again. "Status."

The competent officer read off the damage. "Warp engines are down, impulse as well. Life support is holding, but shields and weapons are offline."

There was a soft, but familiar sound from outside, and Janeway looked up. She could see the silvery forms of starsuits out the transparent aluminum window. The figure outside had a palm-mounted tractor beam on the ship. Not as strong as the ones found on the original Starwind, these were enough to deflect photon torpedoes and tow small ships, with more starsuits needed to tow larger ships. The figure shifted and Janeway caught a glimpse of an ebon-black starsuit with green running lights leading the formation back to the Phoenix. The starship had its armor up, gleaming brilliantly in the light of the Romulan sun.

* * *

Annika wasn't taken by surprise when the second Warbird decloaked. After all, this was the Romulan home system, of course they would keep more than one warbird here. She dodged the opening shot, and caught the second one, aimed at the shuttlecraft. Snarling at the threat to her beloved, she restrained the impulse to fire her cannon at the aggressor, keeping herself and her Flight between her beloved and those who wished to destroy her.

* * *

Lisa was thrilled to be in space again, her starsuit's hum soothing and exciting at the same time. The feeling of freedom was exhilarating, but it was tempered by the fact that she was in a REAL battle now. This wasn't a play-fight on the holodeck, she could get killed if she made a wrong move. Still, the sensations of flight were too much to ignore, and she found herself doing slow barrel rolls as she kept in formation.

When the warbird decloaked, she had only a moment's warning before its photon torpedoes shot past her.

On a direct course to the shuttle.

* * *

Janeway had a clear view of the incoming torpedo, her eyes widening as its green glow filled the viewport.

* * *

Annika stared in horror. She knew there wasn't enough time to reach the torpedo, nor could she bring her cannon in line fast enough to shoot it down, and all the Valkyries were out of range.

* * *

Lisa stared in shock at the expanding debris field. The admiral was gone. She was dead. Dead! The woman whom her Major, her friend and role model, had loved. Shock froze her in place. Never in her darkest nightmares had she ever dreamt anything like this. And then the howl began. Pain. Loss. Anguish. And, rising from beneath like a torrent of magma rising in a volcano, came the rage. Hot, searing, burning in the darkness of space, the rage of one denied her mate.

Annika was going mad.

* * *

She saw red. Everywhere, she saw those who had stolen her mate from her. How DARE they?!? They dared harm the one person in the universe who meant more to her than her own life. She didn't see what she did at first, but the first Warbird was crippled when she regained use of her sight. Its right nacelle had been sheered off and secondary explosions were ripping the left wing to bits. She turned her attention on the other two Warbirds, and the third decloaking off to the left. Sapphire coils of energy slashed through the blackness of space, pounding into the shields of the warbird nearest her as she howled her rage and hate into the darkness.

They had taken away her life, so would she take away theirs.

* * *

Lisa could hardly believe her eyes. The first warbird had been nearly destroyed with a single shot! The titanic outpouring of energy should have left Annika without an erg left in her suit, but still she came, pounding away at the next warbird. Lisa shook violently. She had been given strictest orders to prevent any aggression on either side. Now, her own commander was firing on the Romulan ships in their home system. She knew what she had to do. She had to stop her own commander. She switched channels and yelled into the commlink. "Gerry, M'Lara! Help me stop her!"

The two friends nodded. They had found themselves promoted to provisional command of the Gamma and Beta wings, respectively. M'Lara's Starwind suit flashed past Lisa as she darted in front of Annika's Valkyrie, intercepting the massive power of the cannon Annika was using. The suit's shields flared and absorbed as much of the energy as they could, the suit's integral armor generators handling the rest. And then Lisa and Gerry were there, grabbing Annika's arms and pulling them back. Lisa called to her commander, "Major Hansen! Stop! We're not supposed to start a war!"

Annika's only reply was a sound of mixed fury and sorrow, tearing at Lisa's heart. Then M'Lara shot toward them and her metal clad fist impacted Annika's starsuit's helmet. Through the contact, the two others felt the impact, a jarring blow that sent them slowly spinning in space, but Annika slumped in Lisa's and Gerry's arms. Lisa turned to the other two. "Let's get her to the Phoenix."

The three friends slowly drew their commanding officer's senseless body back to their ship.

* * *

AN: CLIFFHANGER! I hope to have the next part of this up within the week, but we'll see how it goes. Sorry for taking so long, I lost the flashdrive I was keeping the story on, and had three day's work go down the drain. v.v I hope to hear your reviews soon!


	5. Chapter 5 : Escalation

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

The voices intruded on her sleep. Faint, far-off and slightly echoing, unintelligible.

"...mild concussion and shock..."

"...dermal regenerator..."

"...straints! more power to the..."

* * *

When Annika's eyes fluttered open, she found a gentle smiling face gazing down at her. For a split second, she saw Kathryn, but then the face changed to a strawberry-blonde woman with a gentle smile and bright blue eyes. "How are we feeling today?"

Annika took a moment to perform a self-diagnostic. "I am functioning adequately" She shifted to sit on the biobed with her usual grace. "Where am I?"

"You're onboard the starship Enterprise. I'm Doctor Crusher. You've been out for a little over two days."

Annika sent a sharp glance at the doctor. "How did I loose consciousness?"

The doctor's hesitation brought with it a mingled sense of fear and anguish to the ex-drone, and suddenly her memories of the last seconds of her lover's life flashed before her ice-blue eyes. Those eyes shaded to the deepest darkest ice instantly and she rose, striding out of sickbay and ignoring the doctor's protestations.

* * *

Beverly Crusher was reminded of the single mindedness of Hugh when he was here. The lost Borg drone had shown a determination less than that of the woman now striding purposefully along the corridors, evidently very familiar with the layout of the ship as she stepped into the turbolift. Beverly slipped in after her. "Where are you going?"

"To retrieve my starsuit. I assume an alcove was installed in the shuttlebay to allow you to remove me?"

"No, they pulled you out of that tin can on the Phoenix, then shuttled you over here." Beverly gulped at the sudden intense gaze from the taller woman, eerie in its intensity, and terrifying with the sense of utter loss behind the eyes. The woman's fingers danced over the keypad as the turbolift came to a halt and shunted sideways into a cross corridor, at last opening near the shuttlebay. Annika strode out, the doctor following.

A pair of security guards were posted at the shuttlebay doors just for this contingency. Picard had done his homework. One of them took a step forward, his hand raised, and palm outward as both of them drew their phasers. "I'm sorry, Major, but I have to ask you to return to sickbay."

"Remove yourselves." Annika strode between them with fluid grace, and the two security guards moved to grab her shoulders as she stopped next to the keypad next to the door.

Beverly didn't see exactly what happened next, but suddenly one security guard was down gasping in pain as he clutched his shoulder and the other thundered across the corridor to smash into the wall opposite, slumping down in a heap. The statuesque woman returned to her manipulation of the keypad, just as another two squads of security arrived. Beverly ducked into a small alcove near the unconscious guard as the squad leader ordered Annika to cease.

The ex-Borg ignored him, and both squads opened fire on her. The first blasts touched her, but did not have an appreciable effect, her body suddenly protected by a Borg shield. Annika continued her work as the squads moved in. One guard grabbed each of her arms in a tight two-armed grip as another kicked out at her legs, which combined with the two guards' sudden pulls sent the heavy woman crashing to the deck. Beverly winced as the woman's skull bounced off the deck, but Annika flung the two guards holding her arms off her, just as one of the squad leaders put his booted foot on her neck, his phaser tip just inches from her eyes. Two more guards fell on her, managing to pin her arms to the deck as Beverly darted forward, pressing the hypospray she had prepared at Picard's request against the struggling woman's neck.

The mournful howl that tore from Annika's throat as her body began to slump into unconsciousness took the doctor's breath away, but she nodded her thanks to the security guard leader before whirling to check on the two guards Annika had incapacitated.

* * *

Consciousness returned slowly to Annika, unlike her usual snap to full consciousness. She glanced fuzzily around her, taking in the utilitarian lines and the glowing-edged window like door. She was in the brig. She sighed softly and rested her head back on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. Her lover was dead. Dead. Gone forever. The one being in the universe she had ever considered more important than her own life was stolen from her. And her killers. Her eyes went hard. If it took her dying breath, she'd make them pay.

A movement out beyond the glowing force field caught her attention, though she didn't betray her awareness of it. This crew had proved themselves her enemy by preventing her from avenging her love. She would treat them as such.

"Are you awake yet? Do you want to talk?"

The unexpected question and the gentle tone caused Annika to glance over at the woman standing just outside the force field. Slender, dark-haired, a bit older than her forties, though such appearances could be deceptive. Annika's own face had only a network of faint lines despite being in her sixth decade.

A quick search through her mind yielded the woman's name. Councilor Troi. A half-Betazed empath. She must guard herself carefully with this one. "I am awake. I do not wish company."

The woman nodded slightly. "I understand. How do you feel?"

Annika frowned slightly. "I am functioning adequately."

"That's not what I meant. How do you... feel?" The slightly different inflection changed the meaning of her statement. The woman was asking about her emotional health. Annika turned away, not deigning to respond to the woman. Troi sighed softly.

"I know you're hurting. I've never sensed such a concentration of rage and loss in anyone I've ever met before. I'm sorry for her death."

Annika was out of her bed and against the force field in a flash, startling the woman into widening her large eyes and taking a step backward. "You cannot know what I feel. Your empathic abilities may give you an inkling of what I feel, but until you loose one who means more to you than your own life you cannot comprehend it." Annika moved back, the force field reestablishing itself and fading into invisibility.

Troi gulped slightly and nodded. She had sensed a core of deep loss within the woman, surrounded by a cloud of anger so intense as to be unbelievable. Not even Worf came close in that. She timidly asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

The flare of rage from the woman made her scurry away even before the shriek of protesting metal and the static impact of the stantion against the force field echoed through the brig.

* * *

Annika was sitting in her cell when the man came bearing gifts. He was slight, unassuming, and wore the blue undershirt of the Science department under his black-and-grey sweater. He didn't speak to Annika, merely chatted with the guard on duty, whom he seemed to know, then performed some maintenance on the field emitters across the brig from Annika's cell and left. It wasn't until three days later when the Enterprise was entering the Sol system that the planted explosive blew apart the EPS junction that fed power to the entire brig area.

Annika was thrown off her bed, but landed in a roll that brought her to her feet just on her side of the force field. The field was there only for an instant before shorting out. A small object rolled across the floor from the burned and blasted-apart junction, blinking silently for her attention. The guard had been knocked cold by the explosion, so Annika took a moment to study the blinking sphere. She recognized a Federation data port jack on one side of the inch-diameter sphere, but no other external markings or indications of what it might contain. Only that blinking light that had shut off when she picked it up gave any information, and that only where it was.

Sighing a bit, Annika slipped out her assimilation tubules and slid them into the data port. Instantly, she began downloading the contents of the sphere, and realized it contained a detailed schematic of the Enterprise along with its current location and the codes necessary to reach the transporter room without being detected. In addition, it had similar codes for the top-secret facility where the Theoretical Propulsion Group had the Delta Flyer in a lab, running tests on its part-Borg systems. Finally, it contained a note from the science officer. Apparently, his brother had been the commander with Janeway in that shuttle, and he desired revenge for his brother's death as much as Annika desired it for her lover.

With newfound confidence, and the codes stored in her cortical node, she quickly accessed the transporter system.

The Flyer would make a good ship for her purposes.

* * *

Picard was just exiting his ready room when the ship rocked. "Report!"

Lt Cmdr Data, the golden skinned android, coaxed the data to his console with machinelike precision. "A small explosion occurred in the brig. It appears to have been a small defect in the EPS conduit in that section."

Commander Riker turned to his captain, his eyes widening slightly. "Major Hansen."

Picard nodded. "Seal off that deck. Security to the brig!"

Data paused, examining his screen. "Sir, there is a transport in progress."

"Shut it down!" Riker's voice was commanding.

"I cannot, sir. It's completed. Tracing..." The android's fingers danced over the keypad with unbelievable speed. With only the slightest bit of warning, Data threw himself out of his seat as the console exploded right where he would have been sitting, if he had been mere flesh and blood. Picard jerked backward, then surged forward to help his Ops officer to his feet.

Apparently Annika didn't want anyone following her.

* * *

Annika arrived in an unused cargo bay three decks above the lab where the Flyer was to undergo impulse drive testing. She turned and used one of the codes from the datasphere to open a locker. She gazed down at the six-inch sphere nestled in a cast-off uniform. The brilliant-but-muted blue glow of an Omega power core bathed her face in its eerie radiance. This size power core had 50 of the powerful Omega molecules in harmonic resonance, balancing their power against each other and each contributing to the power the core could produce. As powerful as this was, without a device designed to tap and harness the immense energies given off by the molecules, it was just so much lightning in a bottle.

But the Flyer was very close to the specifications needed to use it.

Annika slipped out of the cargo bay. There was a turbolift at the end of this corridor.

* * *

Faye Tersen was a lab tech at the prestigious Theoretical Propulsion Group laboratory near Utopia Planetia Shipyards. Today, her schedule began with breakfast at 0800 hours, a morning jog from 0815 to 0930, which would take her to assigned lab. There, she would begin the second phase of tests on the shuttlecraft the Voyager had brought back with them. The impulse designs were most impressive, and coming from someone with their Masters in impulse physics, working on their PhD, that was high praise. She hoped to be able to include some of the modifications in the next class of impulse drives. The drives on the Flyer used less energy for more thrust than any other drive configuration she had run across, and its efficiency quotient was almost off the charts, and far above Starfleet minimum specifications.

She entered the lab control room, gazing through the thick transparent aluminum panes to the odd-looking ship mounted in a test frame in the large, pressurized space beyond. Lights came up in the lab proper as she entered the control room. A few minutes spent entering the test parameters brought the rest of her team to the lab's control booth. She outlined the procedures for the tests today and her team set about implementing the test protocols.

"Are we ready yet?" Faye's calm, throaty voice came over to the other three on her team. The two Vulcan women nodded, and the other human grinned his agreement, giving her the thumbs-up. "Good, bring the impulse reactors online."

The dull red glow from the ship's impulse engines showed that the team had activated the drive's power source. Faye began running tests on its control interlinks, satisfying herself that the ship was completely under control. It wouldn't do much good for it to rip free of its moorings and slam into the side of the lab.

"Alright, begin running the first test. We should reach-" The Red Alert klaxon cut her off, the blood-red light flashing in the booth and in the lab beyond as the impulse engines of the small ship suddenly glowed a brilliant ruby, indicating maximum thrust.

"What's going on?" Faye threw herself at the control panel, ordering a priority one shutdown on the impulse reactors. Her screens showed the drive powering down in a controlled manner, even as the impulse whine in the room beyond became a high-pitched scream. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the air behind the craft rippling with the sheer force being generated. The accelerometers in the support framework were buried at their high-end, and still the scream rose.

Faye's eyes widened still more as the ship itself rippled, the impulse engines distorting as if viewed through water, enlarging, becoming wider-spaced. The stubby wings of the craft seemed to erupt, becoming long, slender, wickedly sharp and very deadly-looking. With a scream of protesting metal, the support frame went, tearing away from the ship just as a greenish bolt of a disruptor blast impacted on the far wall. The ship blasted free of the lab, the roar of air depressurizing slowly fading as the air evacuated.

Faye shook her head in mute denial. This would not look good on her report.

* * *

The USS Sutherland was just returning for routine maintenance at Utopia Planetia when their sensors recorded the sudden depressurization of one of the labs. The captain was just about to order the ship to offer assistance, when something bounced off their shields. The impact rocked the ship, but wasn't too bad. But the subsequent disruptor pulses that crippled the ship's warp drive had the Red Alert klaxon howling instantly as the tiny ship that had disabled them angled past their view. The unfamiliar, almost organic design shifted slightly, and the ops officer reported a Borg warp signature before the ship vanished into warp.

* * *

Captain Jean-luc Picard had served Starfleet for many, many years. He'd lost his hair, his ship (on two occasions) and nearly lost his commission a few times. But never before had he failed in his mission. The captain's ready room shook with the volume of the music he had flooding it. Riker had only seen him like this once before, during their impromptu trip to the mid twenty-first century to make sure Cochrane's warp ship made the deadline. Then, Picard's ship had been partly assimilated by the Borg, and he was preparing himself to fight them to the bitter end in defense of his ship. Now, he was sullen over the loss of his guest. He could understand the feelings of frustration and rage the woman was feeling. He had felt them himself numerous times. Though he had never loved as deeply as Annika clearly did, he had an inkling of what she must be going through.

He noticed his first officer's reflection in the highly-polished tabletop, and turned off the music. The sudden ringing silence held both men silent for a bit, before Riker made his report. "Sir, we've just gotten a report that a small, unidentified Borg ship just left the Utopia Planetia shipyards."

Picard was out of his chair in an instant, striding after his number one to the bridge. "Mister Data, find the warp signature reported by the USS Sutherland and track it. I want to intercept that ship at the earliest possible moment. Mister Baer, maximum warp."

The sleek, deadly shape of the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise-E began its turn, the nacelles glowing blue-white as the ship was catapulted past the light speed barrier.

* * *

Annika sat in what had formerly been the pilot's seat of the Delta Flyer. Now, it was so much more than that. Her left arm was encased to the elbow by a sleek, organically-sculpted metal sheath, her implants plugged directly into the ship, the soft pulsing thrum of the engines soothing as, with her eyes closed and head gently held by the seat's headrest, she guided her ship through the ether of subspace, hurtling along even as her ship's engines and physical shape changed, under reconstruction by her nanoprobes.

The ship now resembled a cross between a small Maquis fighter and a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, downward-angled, forward-sweeping wings tipped with disruptor cannon, and a mini-photon torpedo replicator on the underside, which could fire either forward or back. But the most sweeping change was the numerous impulse engines now placed at the wingtips and the nose of the ship as well. Far more maneuverable now than she ever was, the Flyer hurtled through subspace at breakneck pace. Her constantly-adjusting warp field keeping her traveling faster than a ship her size ever should have been able to reach, let alone maintain.

Far behind her, Annika sensed the intrusion of the Enterprise into the warp-domain, and silently urged her little ship faster.

She had so much to do, she couldn't be stopped now.

* * *

Picard felt the steady thrumming of his ship's engines as he watched the small vessel on his viewscreen. No longer the unidentifiable blip on the Sutherland's screens, the little ship looked much like a miniaturized version of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey, save that its central portion was much smaller in proportion, and the ship had what looked like impulse thrusters on its wingtips and nose as well as powerful, large impulse engines behind it. Two short, thick spines held undersized nacelles very close to the top of the ship, paralleling the longer ones embedded in the wings' attachment points. The fluid, almost organic lines of the ship indicated its origins, and even as Picard watched, what looked like a series of disruptor cannon appeared along the rear edge of the two sweeping wings beneath the craft.

"We are within weapons range now, Captain." The flat and emotionless voice of Lt Cmdr Data brought him back from his woolgathering.

Picard rose. "Hail them."

There was no response. "Open a channel." The android did so, glancing up at the tiny ship, its forward wing-edges rippling slightly as the wings became wider. "This is Captain Jean-luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise. Identify yourself."

For several tense seconds, there was no reply, then an oddly familiar voice spoke, a mechanical overlay to the words. "Do not pursue me, Locutus."

Picard shivered inwardly. That voice had the same mechanical quality that the Borg collective had had, though there was but a single voice in it. "Identify yourself."

The viewscreen shifted, and Troi gasped, gazing up at the screen from her seat beside Picard's chair. Annika Hansen was almost completely obscured by a metal cocoon. Her left arm was encased in metal up to the shoulder, her waist down was similarly encased, and several bands had fastened themselves across the woman's torso and neck, holding her head in place. "Do not pursue me, Locutus. I do not wish to cause you harm."

"Major Hansen. What have you done to yourself?"

"I have appropriated the means to punish those who took her. I will not let anyone stand in my way." Her ice-blue eyes seemed almost white, so stark was her grief. But her eyes suddenly flamed into burning intensity. "Not even you, Locutus. You have ten seconds to withdraw or alter your course before I open fire." The channel was cut with abrupt precision.

Riker spoke up first. "What's the tactical readout on that ship?"

The new lieutenant at that post hesitated only slightly before reporting. "Multiple disruptor cannon, fore and aft. I can't tell how many impulse clusters she has, they keep shifting around. I'm reading a massive power source, though. No ship that tiny has that powerful a warp core!"

Picard and Riker exchanged a glance. "What are her defensive systems?"

"Multiple shield emitters and some sort of generator running off her phaser banks is making additional armor plates on her wings at the moment."

Picard sighed. "Suggestions?"

"I'm not sure, sir. She's packing a lot of firepower into that ship. If she can use it, that thing can outgun a Galaxy class ship."

Data turned slightly, glancing at the captain. "An inverse warp field might be able to drop her out of warp fast enough to disable her."

Picard nodded. "Make it so." Privately, he thought, 'Forgive me, Annika.'

* * *

The first shock of the inverse field sent Annika's mind scrambling to keep her own warp field intact, but the rapid disintegration of her warp bubble dumped her out of the superluminal domain and into normal space. Her ship began an uncontrolled tumble, which she straightened out of just as the first touch of the Enterprise's phasers hammered into her shields. Snarling her rage, she sent her ship arrowing towards the massive starship, caroming off their shields and firing point-blank at the saucer section with every one of her eight rear-facing disruptors.

The greenish bolts powered into their shields for a the first few volleys, until she was able to adapt to their shield's frequency. The subsequent bolts bypassed that protection to impact along the upper surface of the rear half of he saucer. Two seconds later, having darted around the back of the larger ship, she blew out the power transfer conduits running to the starboard nacelle with concentrated disruptor fire, leaving the Enterprise unable to go to warp. She paused only a moment longer to deliver a final message to Picard.

"I told you, Locutus. Do not pursue me." With that, she angled her ship and blasted into warp once more, leaving the former Borg leader sighing in his command chair.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the wait, I didn't get around to this until Friday morning. Schoolwork should tail off in about a week or so, one of my classes ends early, so I won't have to deal with that anymore. However, the other classes pick up in intensity, and I'll have less and less time to work on this going forward. I hope to have the next chapter up next week, assuming of course I get inspired. Next one's going to be a bit of a shocker. ^.~


	6. Chapter 6 : Revelation

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

The woman woke slowly in the darkened room. She gazed unseeing up at the shadowed ceiling for many long minutes before groaning softly and rolling on her side. She slowly sat up, panting slightly. Slowly she stood, feeling her way along the wall to a basin. She activated it, splashing water on her face and slowly waking.

She glanced around the darkened room. Small, a single cot like bed in one corner, a basin of water with the smooth sheen behind it that spoke of a mirror, though it was too dark to make out a reflection. She fumbled down the front of the basin, finding what she expected, a towel on a bar. She rubbed her face vigorously, then halted suddenly. Her fingers writhed through the towel. She flung it aside, and a hoarse, croaking voice spoke.

"Computer, Lights."

Her eyes winced shut as the sudden illumination lanced into them like a spike of pain. Slowly, she opened her stormy-grey eyes, gazing back at her reflection in the mirror. Her face twisted through expressions of shock, horror and growing rage. The petite Romulan woman in the mirror reflected the deadly twinkle in those steel-grey eyes. She raised a hand, stroking the bony crest along her forehead, then flicking back to the point of her ear, her hair bowl-cut like so many other Romulans.

A soft sound behind her drew her to the wall beside the only door into this small room, the towel clutched convulsively in both hands. The door squeaked softly as it opened, and the woman was on the man behind it in a flash, wrapping the arm up in the towel and pulling it back behind his neck, her own arm clamped around his neck in a vice grip.

"Who are you, and what have you done to me?" Her voice was a low, dangerous growl.

"Kathryn, please." The woman's eyes widened in shock, the grey lightening slightly as she recognized the voice. Quickly she loosed the towel and stood back contritely, like a little girl who's been found with her hand in the cookie jar.

"Forgive me, Ambassador Spock."

The elderly Vulcan turned, one eyebrow raised. "Once there is something to forgive, then may I forgive you."

Kathryn Janeway gazed up in awe of the man she had revered throughout her academy days.

* * *

The pair sat on a rough bench in the cavern. Here and there, people were coming and going, but the woman had eyes only for the elderly man.

"I must apologize for the cosmetic surgery, it was the only way to bring you here. The uniform you had been wearing was badly damaged, what rank did you hold?"

Kathryn's back straightened in pride. "Admiral."

Ambassador Spock's eyebrow raised and he nodded, which was more eloquent than an hour of congratulations. Kathryn wriggled slightly in delight.

"We brought you here to keep you from falling into the hands of the Tal Shiar. We're not sure why they wanted you enough to go to such extreme lengths, but they were willing to try the old trick of a transport at the last second to obtain you. Luckily, the transporter operator was one of our group. He's most likely dead now."

Kathryn bowed her head. "I'm sorry for his death."

"It was a worthy sacrifice. He may have helped prevent a war which would cost both the Federation and Romulus many lives."

She gazed at him quizzically, "How so?"

"We believe that there is a faction within the Federation that allowed the time and place of your transfer to be leaked to the Tal Shiar. They also seem to have spread rumors to them that you hold the key of the Federation's new powerbase. The Tal Shiar would stop at nothing to obtain such data. We don't know who the spy is in the Federation, nor who the faction is that fed them this false information, however, we can say for certain that the spy is in Starfleet Command, in daily contact with Admiral Necheyev."

The woman cocked her head, absorbing this and nodding slowly as the puzzle pieces fitted together. "That explains why they were so desperate to get me, and why they'd go to such lengths. Those rumors were not without a grain of truth, however."

Kathryn would treasure the look that Spock gave her for the rest of her life, one of restrained surprise. Perhaps the old Vulcan was loosing his tight grip on his emotions? "How so?"

"I'm not sure if this is the safest place to go into that. Suffice it to say, we've developed a new weapon to combat the Borg, originally."

"Why 'originally', Admiral?"

"Because the Borg signed a peace treaty with the Federation five years ago."

All activity in the room halted, and the people around the periphery began drifting inwards.

"The Borg underwent a civil war just over five years ago. We helped the rebel faction break free, and in doing so, allowed trillions to regain their individuality."

The soft words of the woman rang in the empty space. When she finished, whispers began flying around the cavern. Ambassador Spock seemed to think deeply for a while.

"That could explain the new discretion the High Command is showing with regards to the Federation. If you've befriended the Borg, the Romulans don't stand a chance if they enter the war."

"The Borg will be busy for the next hundred or two years restoring the planets they assimilated and un-assimilating the people that want out of the link. They're effectively out of the picture for the rest of our lifetimes."

The elderly Vulcan nodded slowly, digesting this. "That would raise your worth in their eyes. They'll want whatever data you can give them on the Borg. I can see why they'd try something like this."

Kathryn sighed slightly and slapped her thigh. "So. How do I get back to the Federation?"

Spock didn't answer for a moment, then turned to a young Romulan, who nodded. "We have booked passage for one Arrenhe Sullan, a minor merchant woman outbound to her ship near the edge of the system. The ship is one of the few we've gained control of, a small but quick courier vessel. You will disembark at the transfer station near the system periphery. The courier vessel will dock and you will board. They will take you to the Neutral Zone where a neutral ship will take you into Federation space." The young Romulan handed Kathryn a small packet, containing her identity papers and authorization to travel.

She nodded and smiled gently to the old Vulcan. "Thank you for this." She continued in an undertone. "Annika must be frantic."

* * *

Kathryn stood within the crowd without being a part of it. It took almost all her self control to remain casual in this mass of people. She recognized the signs to board her transport and got in line to board. The slow but steady flow of people in and out of the concourses was the same here as it was in the Federation. Eventually she found a seat on the transport craft, managing to make inane small talk to her neighbor for a bit before feigning tiredness and finally managing to nod off. It would be a long hour to the transfer station.

* * *

The transfer ship was just docking when the first alarm rippled through the station. "Alert! Alert! Hostile craft inbound!"

People began scrambling for shelter, Kathryn following the man she had sat next to in the shelter, until she passed the great bay windows. She caught just a glimpse, but it was enough to make her turn and stare. Her courier ship was just in the next berth. She sprinted.

* * *

The Romulan nodded gravely to her as she ran through the airlock. "We must hurry. This could work to our advantage."

Just then, the station rocked. Twin bolts of greenish disruptor fire hammered at the station's shields, and the tiny ship shot past at a blur. The courier ship was the only one ready to leave at a moment's notice, but stuck close to the station, under the aegis of their shields for the moment. Kathryn's eyes grew wide as she watched the tiny ship arc around them and hammer the station's shields once more before shooting off towards Romulus.

She turned, her Command Mask back in place, radiating authority. "Rendezvous with that ship."

The man turned, looking askance at her. "Miss-"

"DO IT!" The screamed command and the flashing fury in the petite woman's eyes had the taller, beefier man recoiling and cringing as he nodded and sat at the controls. Within a few moments, he had the ship arrowing deeper into the system after the tiny ship that had buzzed the station. Tiny blossoms of green light indicated the ship had encountered one or more of the sentinel Warbirds kept in system and cloaked to deal with just such a threat. Silently, Kathryn Janeway urged the ship faster.

She only had time to grab the back of a chair as the tiny ship sent a pair of disruptor pulses at them. The ship bucked and shook, loosing attitude control for a moment. Kathryn shot across the room, slipping into a chair and trying to figure out how to open a channel.

Her heart ached as she saw the familiar shape of the Delta Flyer, though distorted by some sort of internal upheaval. The tiny ship's formerly-stubby wings had elongated and sharpened into two blades angling down and forward. The ship seemed emaciated, long, lean, dart like, with two large and deadly-looking cannon on the forward wingtips and what looks like half a dozen smaller ones on the rear edges. Many small impulse ports adorned the ship, three very large ones on the aft side glowing the brilliant ruby of full-impulse.

Kathryn's breath caught as she saw the ship closely. It was only for a moment as the ship flashed across the canopy of the small courier ship, but it was enough. She finally found the controls to send a message, and was shocked once more when the image changed to that of the cockpit of the much-changed Delta Flyer.

Annika gazed back at her, almost entirely covered by metal sheathing. Kathryn flashed back to the day almost a decade ago now, god how time flies! The day she had freed one recalcitrant drone from the Collective. Seven had come a long way since that day, now happily married to B'Elanna Torres, and expecting their first children. The decision for both women to carry had been a mutual one, but one that both were regretting now.

Annika had come even farther from that ungrateful drone who had repeatedly demanded to be returned to the Collective. She had spent another thirty years in the Alpha Quadrant after Kathryn had gotten her ship home, but those years were bitter. Kathryn herself had been captured by the Borg and tortured for those thirty years, while Annika had been forced to watch from the Queen's eyes. Eventually, Annika had tried to rescue Kathryn with the starsuit she had designed for the purpose, but a miscalculation had send her back over thirty years to a point before her beloved Kathryn had been tortured. The one-way trip had left her stranded, and the subsequent changes in the timeline had not only gotten Voyager home two years earlier than they had originally in Annika's timeline, but also had resulted in the conversion of the Borg Collective from a hive mind structure to the most pure democracy in existence.

But now, staring at the woman buried from the waist down in metal fibers and conduits, her left side similarly encased, a band of metal across her chest, Kathryn felt a pang for putting her beloved Annika through this torture. The woman's eyes widened in shock, gazing disbelievingly at Janeway.

"K-Kathryn?"

The word tore at Janeway's heart. It was full of longing, denial, and spoke of a deep-seated wound of the spirit. "I'm here, beloved. I'm home."

The strong, aristocratic features of her lover, the high cheekbones and finely sculpted jaw line, slowly blurred behind Kathryn's tears. Next instant, she felt the soft tingling sensation that accompanied transport, and found herself in the now-cramped interior of the small shuttlecraft-turned-fighter. She squirmed around and slid into Annika's lap with the bound woman's assistance, crying and gasping as the two reunited lovers held each other tightly. Kathryn wrapped her arms around the chair, unable to get her hands between it and Annika's back as Annika's strong right arm held her crushingly close.

"What have you done to yourself..?" Kathryn glanced down at the gleaming metal coating over her lover's body. Annika's eyes grew white, her ice-blue eyes showing her long sorrow and grief.

"I thought I had nothing left to live for." The simple declaration tore through Kathryn, and she kissed the full lips, hugging tight to her beloved.

"I swear to you, I'll never leave you like that again."

Annika nodded slightly, and the little ship turned, arcing back out of the system and outrunning the more ponderous warbirds easily before blasting into high warp.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the shortness and the lateness of this, inspiration dried up for this bit of the story for a while. I may revisit it and rewrite later. As always, if you read it, REVIEW IT!


	7. Chapter 7 : Vindication

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

Ensign Lisa Thomas looked scared. After being unceremoniously ordered back to the Phoenix and conveyed back to Valkyrie Base in apparent disgrace, it was only natural to be scared spitless. She and the rest of the Valkyries were in the familiar confines of the lounge when a call came in on a couple of the Flight's commbadges, ordering them to "level 27, junction B17". Lisa hadn't ever been lower than Level Twenty, below that was supposedly the base maintenance systems and the power generation systems for the base.

Gerry gave her a wide-eyed stare of mingled pity and fear. "I hope they're not in trouble."

Lisa nodded. She glanced over at M'Lara, the big Klingon girl sitting over near the door. "For some reason I feel as if we're being watched..."

Gerry nodded emphatically. "That's it. Watched. I'm picking that up from everyone in here..."

Lisa glanced at her empathic friend. Gerry was an odd one. His parents were of mixed species. His mother had been a Betazed; she had died in the battle of Cardassia. His father had been a civilian human on one of the many freighter ships that ran between the Core Worlds. As a result, he had an acute empathy, though he'd never be able to read minds the way his mother could have. Gerry's unease had been growing since they got back to the base, usually a comfort to the young men and women who had become part of Valkyrie Flight.

"What is it Gerry?" Lisa had noticed a change on her friend's expressive features.

"We've got to get out of here. Now." Gerry's tone was tight, ruthlessly controlled. Lisa's large eyes widened. She hadn't heard Gerry give that particular emphasis more than once, the time the shuttlecraft they had been in had developed that near-fatal fault in its impulse manifold that would have blown them both to kingdom come. Lisa didn't hesitate. If her friend thought they had to leave, they had to leave. She trusted Gerry's intuition too much to question it in a crisis situation.

M'Lara glanced up at the pair as they rose and exited the Lounge. "Where're you two off to?"

Lisa didn't answer, but Gerry gave a curt reply. "Out. Away from here. We've got to leave now."

M'Lara's forehead ridge seemed to crinkle still more, or maybe it was the subdued lighting in the hallway. "Why do we have to leave?"

"I don't know, we just have to. Now." Gerry's low but urgent voice spurred Lisa on faster.

Now the lanky Klingon girl paced behind them. "We were ordered to remain here. Gerry? Listen to me. We were ordered to remain in the Lounge!"

The other two ignored her. Lisa thought about it when they reached a turbolift, then slid in with Gerry and called, "Emergency Close. Valkyrie Hanger."

The door shut quickly, closing out M'Lara's startled "Wait!" and sent them rushing upwards towards the hanger on Level One, where the Valkyrie Suits were stored.

* * *

Gerry's mind was whirling. He sensed pain, anger, horror, and a growing unease from the lower levels of the compound. He didn't know what was going on down there, but he knew it wasn't good. He instinctively knew he had to get out of here, and he had to take Lisa with him. He didn't know why, but he knew it was imperative she get out of Valkyrie Base and fast. He tore open the control panel and began resequencing the isolinear chips that controlled the computer lockout, bypassing the safeguards for speed and the computer's remote controls for the turbolift's autonomic systems. The tube shot up at increasing speed, topping out at around two gravities, and slowed to a halt so suddenly they were momentarily weightless.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He cried, shoving the turbolift doors open faster and dashing off towards the hangerbay, Lisa hot on his heels. He had to hotwire the door to get it to open for them, evidently security was already on their trail. He knew they'd try to shut down the suit alcoves as soon as he got the door open, so he shot to the main console and his fingers blurred over the keys, setting up an encryption subroutine to protect the alcoves from remote shutdown for an extra few minutes before dashing to his own alcove. Lisa was already halfway through her suit up procedure.

* * *

M'Lara dashed into the hanger bay at the head of a security detail, just in time to see her two friends step out of their alcoves fully suited. "Shit!"

She hurled herself behind a console as the security guards opened fire. Predictably, the hand-phaser fire made as little difference on the starsuits as it would on a starship's hull. The slender suit turned and fired its greenish-blue arm-mounted cannon once, exploding a deck plate before the guards and sending them scrabbling for cover. M'Lara peeked out of cover just in time to see the larger starsuit smash through a control panel and begin hotwiring the outer doors. He glanced to the slender suit and moved aside at some unspoken command. The smaller suit raised her disruptor cannon again and targeted the outer doors. M'Lara scrambled to exit the soon-to-be-depressurized hanger and noticed her own starsuit alcove. Not stopping to think, she darted inside it, closing its outer hatch and beginning her suiting procedure as the muffled explosion and roar of decompression sounded outside her alcove.

* * *

Lisa blew open the outer doors with two precisely calibrated shots, sheering the mountings and blowing the entire door out into vacuum. She hoped the guards had time to grab onto something as she and Gerry shot out into space, their suits' impulse wings glaring ruby-red as they exited Valkyrie Base.

A sudden thought struck her and she spoke into her helmet. "Valkyrie 7 to Valkyrie 5, where do we go?"

"Away from here!" Gerry's starsuit accelerated and Lisa followed. She didn't see the gleaming-silver starsuit following them.

* * *

Now that he had gotten them out of the stifling mental atmosphere of Valkyrie Base, Gerry was wondering just where they COULD go, when a silver blur tackled him from behind. "Where do you think you two are going?"

M'Lara's angry voice buzzed in Gerry's ear as he tumbled over and over from the impact. He shook his head to clear it and straightened out of his tumble. "We're leaving, M'Lara, don't try to stop us."

"We were ordered to wait! ORDERED, Gerry!"

"There was something terrible going on down there, M'Lara! I FELT it!"

"I don't give a shit what you felt, you're going back there, Gerald Talor!"

Lisa watched as M'Lara's silver-with-gold-stripes starsuit grabbed for Gerry's wings, then snapped up her arm-cannon. "Don't you DARE, M'Lara, daughter of Kozoth! I don't want our friendship to end over something as petty as this!"

M'Lara's starsuit straightened and she half-turned to Lisa, as if to reply. At that instant, Gerry made a break for open space. M'Lara was a silver blur, lashing out with a kick that struck Gerry in the back, just between the shoulder blades.

Right where the blue orb of his Omega powercore glowed.

* * *

Gerry had a split second of unimaginable pain, then everything went dark.

* * *

M'Lara watched, stunned. Gerry just drifted. She could hear Lisa's increasingly frantic and fearful hails.

* * *

Lisa screamed in agony as she watched her friend, her best friend, and perhaps he could have grown to be more to her, drift away. She could read his vital signs through the Valkyrie Tactical Network. His brain had been fried by the sudden surge of power the kick had sent racing up his nervous system. Now, although his heart still beat and his lungs still breathed, that which had made him unique was gone. Gone forever.

She didn't consciously hear the primal roar of anger that burst from her lips.

* * *

M'Lara was smashed sideways as Lisa slammed into her, wings fully extended, impulse drive at full thrust. She turned to run, her larger and more powerful impulse drive pushing her away from the smaller and slower starsuit. The scream of anger over the open commlink was enough to send shudders up her spine. Klingon or not, she turned and fled.

* * *

Lisa saw red. Nothing mattered now, save punishing the murderer who had killed her best friend. She straightened out, booted toes pointing and legs together, her clenched hands out in front of her as she pushed her suit to the redline, overheating her impulse wings as she stared up at the fleeing silver speck that was the murderer. She had forgotten her cannon, but now she remembered them and sent emerald disruptor bolts chasing the silver figure, bracketing her and making her take evasive maneuvers to avoid the green deluge.

* * *

The two silver figures raced across the Trojan asteroids until they exited them. The Starwind's superior speed was partially nullified by the proximity of the asteroids, having to slow down to avoid running into the larger ones. Now, however, M'Lara could give free reign to her superior engines, and she widened the gap between her and the enraged maniac behind her. The green barrage of disruptor bolts was getting closer, but she soon pushed herself out of range of that threat. The sudden blazing-blue bolt of the Valkyrie Cannon lanced past her and she veered away to avoid it, panting in shock at the closeness of the blast. She glanced around and noticed the Utopia Planetia Shipyards a few hundred thousand kilometers ahead. 'If I can get there, she won't dare use the Cannon.'

She opened up full throttle and accelerated hard towards the Asteroid Belt.

* * *

Lisa had calmed down a bit, now, enough to realize she can't catch M'Lara in sublight. But she didn't dare use the warp drive in the Trojans, and once she exits them, M'Lara's even faster in sublight. "My only hope of catching her is if I wing her." She drew the cannon from its concealment in her right arm-armor, the cannon assembling itself over her right forearm. She sighted along it, leading her shot and finally sending the brilliant-blue beam of the cannon arrowing out to touch- 'NO! MISSED!' She snarled and fires again, this shot going even wider. 'DAMN she's a good flyer.' She was clear of the asteroids now and M'Lara was widening the gap. Without thinking about it, she sent her wings back in the attitude of a diving hawk, her target dead-center between her sights.

The blue flash of a warp drive engage and the silent explosion of light as she enters warp are immediately followed by a flash and deceleration as she exits. Now a few light seconds closer to her quarry, she fired again and again, almost in range, out of range again as M'Lara darts like a fish in water, avoiding her shots. She was nearly into the Asteroid Belt now, her impulse drive screaming in imminent overload, darting around asteroids as she zips after the less-maneuverable Starwind suit ahead of her. 'I'll catch you, you bitch. Then we'll see who's the better pilot.'

* * *

M'Lara was stunned as the coruscating beams of blue-white light lanced past her as she entered the Asteroids. 'How in Grethor did she catch up?!?' She arrowed into the asteroids, not bothering to slow down to avoid the ones she could just power through, smashing several of them to rubble as she did so. The green bolts of disruptors whickered past her as she darted around the larger asteroids, occasional bolts of blue-white fire vaporizing an asteroid near her as she ran before her enraged friend.

It was only minutes to go to Mars orbit.

* * *

Mrs. Fairburn was an English woman through and through. She and her husband were taking their first off-planet luxury cruise to celebrate their 10th anniversary. Their liner, the Golden Star, was just approaching the Asteroid Belt, and Mrs. Fairburn was awestruck by the sight as she watched next to a full-length window. She blinked. "Surely that wasn't an explosion going off in the Belt?" She peered closer, and there was no mistaking it. Blue-white lines of light and green bolts were racing through the Belt like lightning through a storm cloud, getting closer. She touched the lapel pin that she had been given when she boarded, activating the communicator hidden within it. "Excuse me, but I was wondering if this was part of the package cruise?"

* * *

M'Lara almost didn't see the liner in time. She pulled up hard, just barely missing the window and sending people scurrying away from it as she shot past in a blur. Lisa, operating in that zone she reached only when she was pushed to the limit of her abilities, casually winged past, the black stripes on her legs, arms and wings marking her as a Valkyrie suit whereas M'Lara's gold stripes marked her as Starwind, clearly visible to the people watching in awe from the liner. She shot past and over the Golden Star, not caring that half a dozen reporters were babbling into commlinks about the story of a lifetime.

* * *

The Phoenix bridge was subdued. Captain Roberta Harris was slumped in the command chair. The entire crew seemed to have picked up on their captain's depression and went about their duties with a subdued air. The final installation of what some people on the project were already jokingly referring to as the "jump drive" was proceeding ahead of schedule, but it wouldn't be finished for another 16 hours, then the final inspections must be passed or the entire thing would have to be ripped out and reinstalled.

Captain Harris sighed. She missed Janeway. She'd looked up to the woman when she was in her academy days, though she was only in her second year when the Voyager got lost in the Delta Quadrant. The only reason she was captain of such a prodigious starship was that they had more ships than people to crew them after the war, and she had shown her mettle on more than one occasion. It was a great honor to captain the Phoenix on this, the first trans-galactic mission, but it had an aura of sadness. The one woman who could have known what they were getting into was gone. Gone to the clearing at the end of the path, as some might say.

Roberta sighed again, glancing at her right-hand console as a small light there began to blink. At that moment, Lt Daniel Bensen called. "Captain? We've picked up weapons fire."

Roberta blinked. Weapons Fire? We're in the Sol System, for crying out loud, the only weapons we should be picking up are mining lasers, not these high-powered disruptor cannon blasts! "Report." Her voice held that note of fatigue and sadness it had held since the battle at Romulus.

"High powered disruptors. Bearing 325 mark 71. Closing rapidly." The lieutenant blinked. "Captain! There's Valkyrie Cannon fire too!"

Roberta's head snapped up to glare at him. "Detailed scan, now."

The man's fingers were already flying across the keys. Daniel had played the piano since age 6, and the facility with the archaic instrument served him well in his new duties. His fingers coaxed more detailed data from the sensors, entering commands almost too fast for the computer to handle. "Two inbound starsuits, one Valkyrie, one Starwind. C-Captain? The Valkyrie is firing on the Starwind!"

Roberta shot to her feet. "Contact the installation teams, tell them they'll have to work while we move. Set course and engage."

* * *

M'Lara was scared. She knew in her deepest heart that she was terrified. The continued disruptor blasts were getting nearer, then dropping off as she shot out of range. But then they'd resume, and always those coruscating blue-white shafts of energy stabbed out like a needle trying to pin her to a board. She kept having to decelerate in order to maneuver, unable to go flat-out because that would leave her unable to avoid the ever-close cannon fire. Even her starsuit might not stand up to such a barrage for long, ablative hull armor or not. She was partially surrounded by a blue-silver shimmer as her ablative armor constantly adjusted itself to her ever-changing shape. She chanced a glance over her shoulder and her eyes widened at what she saw.

'Th-that's impossible! No one can go to warp and exit that precisely!' No wonder Lisa kept catching up. The blasted human was blipping in an out of warp! The flashes were nearly constant now, her former friend bouncing over the barrier between this universe and the otherverse where warp is possible like a ball in a furious game of ping-pong. Ever time she emerged, she was right on M'Lara's heels, firing away and only just missing the Klingon woman.

M'Lara's fear grew into a gut-wrenching horror and she widened her wings, desperate to stay ahead of the raging girl behind her.

* * *

The proximity alarm at Utopia Planetia Shipyards only had time for a single emergency-hail across all commbadges before the two interlopers slashed through the shipyards. M'Lara's fear had grown as Lisa chased her across the system, and now she was close to gibbering in terror. She almost didn't see the first support strut. The second she didn't see. The third, she tried to avoid, but her outstretched wing clipped through it like a phaser through butter. Then she was clear of the first dry-dock. The terrified glance she shot behind her showed the unmistakable brilliant flash of a warp-exit. 'She's insane! No one is that precise! She can't be using warp in here, it's too close, to close!'

But still, her pursuer kept coming, the green blasts of disruptor fire nearly constant, save for those brilliant flashes.

* * *

Carlos Mendez, a construction worker at UP's 17th dry-dock, saw the two silvery shapes flash through his domain like thunder and lighting. "The first one, she was damn fast," he soon told reporters, "but the other, she musta been nuts. I've never seen anyone do a warp-skip like that, not even on the holodeck. Didn't think it was possible until I saw it with my own eyes. Still don't. Damn girl was blipping in and out of warp like a bloody dolphin, dipping in and outa the water like. I swear, she shot through my dry-dock like a bolt of lighting, and I've not seen better piloting in all my days. DAMN, that girl was fast."

* * *

Terrance P. Phillips was about to cover the story that would catapult him from an obscure and often overlooked newsman to Sol System Reporter for the Federation News Circuit. The young man had heard reports from the Golden Star about two silvery shapes chasing each other across the system, and had scrambled from his office on Mars to the Utopia Planetia shipyards just in time to capture most of the awe-inspiring chase through that jumble of dry-docks and ships on holocrystal. He didn't offer commentary, save for an awestruck silence, but the images spoke for themselves. The sheer skill needed to pull off those moves, even at slow speeds, would have been great, but to do it at half light speed indicated a level of skill that was far and above the greatest pilots in history. Reflexes must have been honed to a razor edge to even attempt it, but to do it at such speed... And the way the other one was vanishing into warp and snapping back to fire those blue beams at the other figure.... The thirty-three-second hologram sold over a trillion copies, and made Terrance's career.

* * *

Lisa barely noticed Utopia Planetia. She had eyes only on her target, moving with an unconscious grace that she could not have duplicated if she had been trying. Her suit cycled her through an endless series of high-warp blips, taking her back in range of her quarry, and she would not be denied. At one point she used a shield-shield bounce to ricochet around a curve, darting between two ponderously-moving Akira-class ships and darting between the nacelles of a Sovereign class and spinning on her axis to slip between the debris M'Lara had left in her wake as she smashed through supports and cargo containers. Lisa's wings never touched a thing in her passage through the shipyards.

She kept up her barrage of fire, sending bolt after bolt of emerald energy after the fleeing silver shape, firing her cannon when she thought she could hit with it. A voice crackled in her ear, but she paid it no heed. She had her prey in her sights. She would catch it.

* * *

M'Lara heard the voice on her commlink, registered that it was ordering her to stop, but didn't heed it. Lisa was too close, too close, and all the time getting closer! M'Lara's hearts beat fast, hammering in her ears as she struggled to keep ahead of the enraged human. 'This is like something out of a nightmare! A human chasing a terrified Klingon! I'll never live it down!' But still she fled, unable to face the fury of her former friend. Just two more dry-docks to clear, then she can go to warp too. Lisa's not the only one with that advantage.

* * *

Lisa didn't consciously see the work pod blunder between her and M'Lara. The fraction of a second it took to jink up and around the pod didn't register either, though it undoubtedly cost the poor man his dignity. The flash of her deceleration from warp was a scant few hundred meters from the pod, but even at the near-superluminal speeds she was carrying from her latest hop in warp, she was still able to spin enough to only run her wingtip through the topmost layer of the pod's canopy, leaving a thin groove in the plasteel. Then she was gone, blipping back into warp again and leaving the shocked man in desperate need of a change of clothes.

* * *

Captain Harris watched in awe at the flashes that signaled entrance and exit that burst through Utopia Planetia like lightning through a cloud. She watched for a full five seconds, thunderstruck, before she ordered her ship to intercept. "Johnson, I want us in front of them in ten seconds!"

* * *

M'Lara's hearts had begun hammering in that sharp, staccato fashion that heralded one of the legendary blood rages of the Klingon warriors. Her panting, gasping breath was loud in her helmet, but she didn't feel enclosed, since the connection her suit had to her neural interface allowed her to feel as if the suit was a part of her. Even so, she had never experienced this level of integration before, and she was exhilarated. So, she was totally unprepared for the sudden excruciating flare of pain when Lisa's latest cannon fire at last found a mark.

* * *

Lisa screamed in triumph as she at last winged her quarry, the cannon strike damaging the left wing and sending M'Lara in an uncontrolled spin. She flared her own wings, blasting into high warp for a few tens of microseconds, then dropping out again, her fist clenched, her hand on a collision course with M'Lara's faceplate. The satisfying KLANG of metal-on-metal reverberated up her arm.

Lisa had just exited warp when she crashed into M'Lara's drunkenly-spinning form. As a result, she was both wreathed in a wash of radiation, a byproduct of a sudden drop from warp, and still carrying an astonishingly high velocity, just under the speed of light. The resulting combination momentarily overwhelmed M'Lara's starsuit's shields, and the kinetic energy of the impact crunched through the ablative hull armor before it had time to adapt to the impact. The final result was most powerful one-hit-knockout in history.

* * *

The sudden CLANG as something struck the hull caused everyone on the bridge to jerk slightly. "Report!" roared the captain.

"Impact on the outer hull. No damage, though someone's going to have to repaint. I think it's the Starwind Suit."

"Lock on and transport to the hanger bay. Someone get the can opener down there."

* * *

Lisa at last came to her senses. M'Lara lay senseless, sprawled across the upper saucer section of the Phoenix. Glancing around, she saw a horde of smaller craft, some of them marked as news crews, others as official investigators.

"No, not yet, I'm not ready yet...." Lisa's heart turned to ice.

Just then, her sensors registered a blast from a science lab in one of the Utopia Planetia modules. Without really thinking about it, she registered the odd warp signature that could only come from the Delta Flyer, but there was an odd power reading within the ship. With no real object in mind, and no way to know how she knew what she did, she made the intuitive leap and realized her Commanding Officer was aboard that ship. Who else would have the audacity or the technical knowledge to install an Omega core in the Flyer?

Without making a conscious decision, Lisa arced up and out of the plane of the ecliptic, and followed the small ship. Following her commander into battle.

* * *

AN: Sorry for the long hiatus. I've been busy with schoolwork and my inspiration dried up for the longest time. I only just rediscovered some interest in this fic and I hope to finish it soon! As always, if you read it, REVIEW IT!


	8. Chapter 8 : Retribution

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

The heavily modified Delta Flyer sped through the otherverse where light speed is an abstract concept. Her glittering, razor-edged wings, swept forward and studded with numerous gun emplacements, glistened in the strange light of streaking stars as the little ship winged her way to nowhere. Even at Warp 7.2, they were only meandering through the deep, dark spaces between stars. The two occupants of the little ship paid no heed to their course, lost as they were in mutual rediscovery.

Admiral Kathryn Janeway didn't care that she was an admiral, or even a member of Starfleet anymore. All her considerable force of personality was focused on making the other occupant of the little ship know, to the core of her being, that she was appreciated, needed, and very much loved. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about what exactly they did, but suffice it to say that it required considerable ingenuity, considering the fact that most of Major Annika Hansen, commanding officer of Valkyrie Flight, was embedded in a tight meshwork of control circuits, having integrated herself into the Delta Flyer to better control the little ship.

It is this scene of passion and heartbreak that Ensign Lisa Thomas of Valkyrie Flight found.

* * *

Lisa had been searching for the past few hours, trying to follow the ever-changing warp trail left by the Delta Flyer. She wasn't sure how Major Hansen had done it, but her senses (currently rigged so that she could 'smell' the trail) told her that the Flyer had passed this way. When she finally found the little ship, she almost didn't recognize it. She swerved, then matched courses with the emaciated little shuttlecraft, coming in under the slender, sharp-edged wings that housed so many disruptor cannon.

"Valkyrie 7 to Delta Flyer, please come in. This is Ensign Lisa Thomas to Delta Flyer, Major Hansen please respond."

* * *

"...ple...pond." The crackling hiss of the partially damaged communications array obscured most of the transmission, and the two occupants were too engrossed in each other to bother. With a mental flick of a switch, Annika turned off the annoying intrusive voice, then returned her whole attention to the softly gasping woman sitting astride her command chair.

* * *

Lisa had given up on the comm. She obviously wasn't listening. She slowly orbited the much-changed ship, then hovered over the canopy. She had matched warp fields with the little ship, so she was technically riding along on their own warp field, saving her own energy and allowing her to get as close as she wanted to the shuttle. She found the partly obscured canopy and gazed into the cockpit. What she saw there made her blush furiously, but she reached out to knock her damaged right fist against the transparent fused-crystal of the canopy.

* * *

The unfamiliar sound brought both occupants out of their dreamy daze, and Kathryn looked around. She flushed hard as she noticed the starsuited figure just outside the canopy, and would have fallen out of Annika's lap had the stronger woman held her close. Annika sent a mental command, ordering the nanoprobes that saturated the ship to quickly repair the communications antenna, turning on the subspace communicator and tapping her ear with her free hand. The starsuited figure nodded slightly, then the clear tones of Lisa Thomas came through.

* * *

"This is Ensign Lisa Thomas to Delta Flyer...." She broke off as she realized whom the Romulan woman sitting naked on the Major's lap was, her stiffening of shock almost sending her hurtling away from the Flyer. Then she shook her head slightly and continued. "Please... Please, come back to Valhalla Base with me? There's something not-right going on there." She realized she sounded like a child and was suddenly grateful that her faceplate concealed the blush that flushed over her cheeks.

* * *

Annika blinked, a slight frown on her face. "What sort of not-right, Ensign?" Her tone was as cool and collected as ever. Kathryn slid awkwardly off her lap, hunting for the bits of her Romulan outfit that she had thrown off in her haste. The soft but urgent voice of her star pupil had restored some more of her normalcy.

"I-I'm not sure, Major. Gerry had a sudden, desperate urge to leave, said he felt something very wrong going on in the lower levels...." She realized she was sounding like a little girl gibbering to her mother that there were monsters under her bed. "I... I know that doesn't sound like much to go on, Major," she said stiffly, "But Gerry's intuitions were always good enough for me. And I felt something myself. Not what he felt, but it seemed as if the entire base were soaked in conspiracy. Everyone seemed hiding something."

* * *

Kathryn paused at these words, then resumed dressing, smoothing her hair down again and ruefully rubbing the angled bulge across her forehead, remnant of the cosmetic surgery that had allowed her to move about on Romulus. She squirmed back up front, taking care not to get caught on a protruding console, and crouched beside Annika's chair. "You said the base personnel felt like they were concealing something?"

The starsuited figure outside the canopy nodded vigorously. "It felt as if the entire base were suddenly a prison, not a training center."

Kathryn glanced at Annika, slate-grey eyes meeting ocean-blue. Annika nodded once in response to Kathryn's raised eyebrow, then turned back to the canopy. "We'll come at once."

* * *

Lisa heaved a sigh of relief. "I'll follow, Major. Just... Don't hurt them? They're still my friends, even if they are hiding something." Annika nodded back through the canopy and Lisa smiled inside her helmet. Then she had to increase speed as the little craft altered course, angling back towards the Federation, and Earth.

* * *

The official story was that the two figures that had raced through Utopia Planetia were in fact tele-presence-operated combat drones, designed for space-superiority while minimizing the risk to a pilot. When asked why one was chasing the other, the representative (who had been surreptitiously extracted from Valhalla Base) smiled good-naturedly and explained that the best way to test such a craft would be against itself, since it was designed to fight other highly maneuverable fighters. When asked about how the tele-presence operated, the representative demurred, stating such information was classified, but admitting that yes, it did use some Borg technology in the interface. Questions rained down on his head, and the man inwardly seethed, while all the time smiling at this sea of sheep.

"I'll find that rogue Valkyrie and deal with her myself. This complicates our plans immensely."

* * *

The man snarled as he returned to Valhalla Base. Months of planning ruined! At least they had suborned the subornable members of Valkyrie Flight, that was some consolation. From last report, the Borg bitch hadn't done more than disable a few warbirds before shooting out of the Romulan star system. She had been pursued by Romulan ships, but she'd given them the slip and gotten clean away. The Romulans were in an uproar, and the Tal Shiar were clamoring for a full-scale retaliation against the Federation. That much had gone according to plan, but the Senate was steadfastly refusing to give in to their demands, sitting the fact that the Borg warp signature in the craft indicated that the Federation wasn't the one to blame for this intrusion. The Tal Shiar countered with telemetry suggesting that the "Borg ship" had come from Federation territory, and along with veiled threats of a Federation / Borg peace treaty. That had set the rest of the Senate in a tizzy, some demanding a full-scale arms buildup to defend the home systems, others clamoring for a preemptive strike, but the whole thing was mired in a mass of red tape a full light second thick.

The man sighed, reassembling his not-quite smiling mask as his shuttle approached the landing platform. Ever since the loss of Admiral Janeway, no one in Valhalla Base had smiled much. He mused on her death. It had been necessary, to set his plans in motion, but he still wished he could have gotten her on his side. Her brilliant mind would have added much to his little group's capabilities. Still, there was the possibility that she, being of the same old caliber of captain that Picard exemplified, she would have opposed him. In all, better that she be out of the picture for good. He sighed and rose to his feet as the shuttlecraft began cycling in through the descending platform and into the hanger bay proper.

It was unfortunate that they had had to use the mind probe on some of the more stubborn members of Valkyrie Flight. It would impair their efficiency. Still, inefficient for a Valkyrie was a relative thing. Even a single Valkyrie starsuit was a match for most starships. He'd send the damaged ones out first, draw the Romulan attack force into a false sense of security, then throw the intact Valkyries against them.

* * *

Annika was rather impressed with Ensign Lisa Thomas. She had directed the girl's starsuit to uplink the telemetry it had recorded since it was last activated. She clenched her good fist as she watched through Lisa's starsuit's eyes as Ensign M'Lara caused Ensign Gerald Taylor's death. True, it was accidental, but if M'Lara had simply tried to incapacitate them instead, that senseless loss might have been avoided.

What impressed Annika the most was the way Lisa had chased the faster starsuit across the inner system. She hadn't even thought about such a maneuver as dipping into warp to keep up with a faster sub light target. Lisa was a natural starsuit pilot, showing another facet of her manifold talents. In the back of her mind, Annika began toying with ideas to use such a tactic against different kinds of foes. As the replay continued, she realized that Lisa must have been operating on a very high level of instinct for most of the flight, not piloting the starsuit, but letting it figure out what she wanted it to do. The way she had rolled up and over the workpod was a perfect example. Annika knew Lisa couldn't have had time to consciously register the pod before running into it, so she must have subconsciously ordered her suit to roll up and out of the way. As it was, she only clipped it with a wingtip instead of smashing head-on into its side, an impressive feat for someone who hadn't been trained very much in the use of a starsuit. Annika herself had clocked more hours in a starsuit than all the rest of Valkyrie Flight combined, and she wasn't sure she had that level of instinctual control with her suit.

She ran through the rest of the recorded data, figuring it was the near-light speed punch that had damaged the servomechanisms in Lisa's right glove. That was why she flew now with it clenched shut. Well, once this was all over, she'd check and see if she could fix the glove's servos.

The tiny ship arrowed back to the Sol System in high warp, the smaller, but more maneuverable starsuit right beside it.

* * *

"Commence your run the instant we drop out of warp. We have to assume they'll be hostile, given what you've told us." Kathryn was squeezed into the small space behind Annika's control throne. She had managed to undo a few of the changes the Romulan surgeon had performed to allow her to pass for Romulan. Though the forehead ridges and bowl-cut hair will have to stay for a while, she had managed to get her face and hands to look human-pink again. The Romulan clothing had been discarded and recycled into a Starfleet Admiral's uniform, complete with one-pip admiral's bar on the collar. She had been tweaking the compression phaser rifle she had found in an unaltered case at the base of the control throne, tuning it to penetrate the shield specifications of the starsuits that Annika had given her from memory. Although a lot of the battle would take place in the space surrounding the Trojan Asteroid base, she was damned if she was going to let Annika and Lisa have all the fun this time around.

The plan was for Annika and Lisa to fly low across the base and draw out as many of the no-doubt coerced or brainwashed Valkyrie Flight as possible, while Janeway was beamed into the base itself, to find and capture the ones responsible while Annika and Lisa disabled the Valkyries. Although Annika hadn't let much slip, Kathryn had spent enough time with the woman over the last few years to be able to read her minimalist expressions. 'It's those thirty years she spent alone, she learned to bottle up her emotions.' Annika had been impressed with whatever the telemetry from Lisa's suit had contained. Very impressed. So much so that she seemed lost in thought as she fed instructions directly to the computer of the much-adapted Delta Flyer.

Kathryn finished realigning the columniation assembly and snapped shut that cover, opening the power pack's override controls. She began retuning the micro fusion power plant to emit a stream of plasma with a much-higher resonance frequency, to take advantage of the fine-tuned calumniator. Hopefully she won't need the extra firepower this would give her, but she believed in being prepared.

* * *

Lisa was somewhat startled when Annika contacted her with a half hour to go before entry into the Sol System. "Describe the sensations you felt as you maneuvered during the segment between time indexes 437.22 and 437.68."

Lisa blinked, then called up an instant replay. She nodded slightly, recognizing the passage through the debris-strewn dry dock, whistling slightly as she realized just how fast she was going through that debris. "I.... I'm not rightly sure, Major. I remember feeling very angry at the time-"

"I'm not asking for a detailed analysis of your emotional state, Ensign." The rebuke stung. "I am interested particularly in the sensations provoked by the sudden deceleration from warp. How did the suit....feel as you dumped back down to sublight?"

Lisa blinked, then frowned, trying to remember. "It... It felt a little like jumping feet-first into a pool. I felt as if the suit were trying to go faster at the rear while slowing down faster in front. It's why I kept my hands in front of me after the first jump, it lessened the sensation of blood rushing to my head."

"I see. Very good, Ensign. We will continue this discussion after we re-take Valhalla Base." The cool assurance of her commanding officer heartened Lisa immensely, and she breathed deep, steeling herself for the battle to come.

* * *

Lt Dubois was in the Valhalla Base command center when the klaxon sounded. He whipped around to the sensor console, and his eyes widened as he saw the two incoming blips. Then he frowned when he realized that one of the blips was too large to be a starsuit, and had too powerful a power signature to be a mere shuttlecraft. "What the hell-"

He never got a chance to finish the thought.

The first impact of the disruptor cannon from Annika's ship caused a power surge in the artificial gravity plating, sending the lieutenant rocketing upwards at five gravities. He was out cold before he hit the floor.

* * *

Lisa watched in awe as the ship she was holding on to pounded through the shields surrounding the base, then remembered that Major Hansen must have known the exact specifications of the shield, since she helped supervise its construction. The bolts of green disruptor fire lanced through the shields and impacted on the control tower. The shots were precisely aimed, blowing off the top couple meters of shielding on the tower in the first volley, then slamming into the now-exposed power conduits in the second, sending a mass of flame roiling out of the stricken tower. The flame quickly extinguished itself in the airlessness of space. Now the ship and the silver-and-black figure clinging to the underside flashed past the stricken tower in a teasingly-slow arc, rounding the asteroid that housed Valhalla Base and coming back round just in time to see the hanger doors opening in the rocky surface of the base. A third volley of fire smashed the base doors to shards just as the two dozen Valkyries rose out of the hanger. Several of the suited figures were hit by the flying shrapnel, but most of them escaped damage.

"Stay close until I give the signal, Ensign Thomas." Major Hansen's voice sounded in her ear and she nodded, not wanting to give her presence away with unnecessary comm traffic. She pressed closer against the underside of the ship, hanging onto the struts protruding from the edges of the small recess that Annika had fashioned into the underside, her booted feet similarly bracing her against the small ship. The Valkyries turned and began firing back at the now-fleeing ship. The shuttle-fighter hybrid quickly arced around a smaller asteroid, and Lisa stepped off the underside of the ship, spinning away and landing gently against the asteroid just in time to see the ordered wedges of Valkyries zipping quickly over her. She waited until they had passed, then rose and joined the last wedge, forming a triangle with the rest of the 5-man wedge.

At first they didn't notice her, but when they did, she arced out of formation and spat blue fire at them from her forearm-mounted Valkyrie cannon, disabling two with her first two shots and winging a third before streaking off into the celestial Sargasso that is the Trojan Asteroid Cluster.

* * *

Annika calmly and efficiently sent her craft hurtling in and around the asteroids, ducking dodging and weaving around the space junk as the Valkyries soared after her. She held her rear fire for now, more interested in drawing them off Lisa- ahh, there she is. She had spotted the sudden blue fire lance of a Valkyrie cannon behind her. Grinning mirthlessly, Annika opened fire, catching the leading wedge unawares and disabling the seven in front with the first volley.

Now the Valkyries scattered, and Annika sent her ship spinning like a top, green fire licking out to strike the scattering shapes with pinpoint precision, shattering wings whenever she could, knocking out the Valkyrie with a lower-power blast when she couldn't. With their wings gone, the Valkyries were helpless, unable to move from their present positions save if they land on an asteroid. On the other hand, they still have their weapons systems, and Annika had to move quickly to dodge the blue lances of the return fire, arrowing out of range.

So far, so good.

* * *

Kathryn materialized in the Valkyrie Lounge, thankfully completely deserted. Annika's last words to her still had her heart racing: "Come back safe, Beloved." Now she looked around and swiftly moved to the door, speaking as she did. "Computer, override internal sensors, do not register my life signs or commbadge to the rest of the staff. Authorization: Janeway-Red-zero-zero-omega." The computer's semi bored tone replied in the affirmative, and Kathryn glanced out through the door at an empty corridor, the red flashing light of a Red-Alert the only illumination. She swiftly stepped down the corridor, heading to the turbolift.

"Let's see what's on the lower level that got one of my people killed."

* * *

Lisa was having the time of her life. Exhilaration and terror warred for dominance as she shot past asteroids, only to loop around and knock the wings off a pursuing Valkyrie, or send the unfortunate spinning into another asteroid. The sensor data feeding directly into her brain made her sense the Valkyries pursuing her as howling engines, to indicate their position, proximity and speed. The young pilot sped so close around a spherical asteroid she actually could have reached out and ran a finger over the rocky sphere as she sped around it, catching the lagging Valkyries by surprise and disabling two before shooting off in a new direction.

Her blood sung with her excitement, her nerves sizzling with white fire such as she'd never felt, not in practice or even during the breakneck chase across half the star system. 'I've never felt so alive!'

* * *

Annika snapped her ship in a spin, her forward cannon catching the pursuing Valkyrie nearest her in a crackling firestorm and sending the gleaming Starwind suit hurtling into a nearby asteroid. Only a few Valkyries were left, and they were regrouping, retreating back towards the base. "Annika to Kathryn. They're heading back. Move quickly."

* * *

AN: Sorry for the long delay, I've been having issues with this ending for a while, but it's finally written. This and the next chapter will be going up near-simultaneously, so Choosers will at last be (nearly) over. I'll have a short epilogue up soon, probably beginning of next week. Thank you all for being so patient, and I hope to hear from you soon. (psst! that's what the big green review button is for! ^.^)


	9. Chapter 9 : Rectification

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

* * *

Kathryn acknowledged the transmission with a curt "Got it." She crouched as the turbolift she was in reached the lowest level of its travel. From here down, only service shafts and Jeffries tubes ran deeper. The door slid open and she rolled out, modified compression phaser sweeping across the hallway. No one in sight. Janeway sighed in relief, then got to her feet. The only illumination, save the pulsing red glow of the Red Alert alarms was the small blue lighting along the lower edges of the corridor walls, giving the place an eerie glow that made Janeway's heart pound. She stepped swiftly down the corridor, every once in a while spinning to rake behind her with the phaser rifle. As yet, no one had appeared.

She pressed herself against the side of the corridor, slinging the rifle over her shoulder for the moment as she tapped a command authorization into the panel beside the massive door to the engineering section. She quickly brought the rifle back into position as the doors whooshed open with the low whine of servos. The woman counted five, to allow any hair-trigger reflexes for anyone on the other side to relax, then slid round the doorway to gaze into Engineering.

Her eyes widened in shock.

* * *

Lisa was playing hide and seek with the other Valkyries. She'd hide behind an asteroid, then dash out when they got close, drawing them further on into the Trojan asteroid cluster. When she tired of the chase, she'd quickly whip around a few asteroids, loosing her pursuers and hiding once more. But the game was starting to get tiring, and the Valkyries who were following her had started to give up. 'Time to turn the tables, I think.'

She grinned inside her helmet. The feelings of flying had always exhilarated her, but flying against someone who had her own speed and agility made it all the more exciting. The playing field was equal, only skill and talent mattered, both of which she had in spades. With a wild cry, she arced in a wicked curve around a small asteroid and thundered back towards her pursuers, making them scatter like pigeons before a hawk.

* * *

Annika was having a bit of a problem. Her port outboard impulse cluster had been knocked out and the starboard forward wingtip disruptor cannon was a melted bubble of slag that the ship's nanoprobes were busily trying to reconstruct. In addition to piloting the ship and targeting the Valkyries circling and pounding her, she was also reprogramming the Delta Flyer's computers to be able to issue commands to the nanoprobes themselves, freeing up her valuable concentration to keeping both ship and herself in as few pieces as possible. She slammed the ship through another bone-rattling turn, the monstrous impulse engines whining as the ship almost turned on its nose, then raced off back towards Valhalla Base.

"Ensign Thomas, I require your assistance."

* * *

Lisa's head snapped up as she heard the command. "On my way." She sent a sapphire coil of energy spearing out to flick the starboard wing from a Starwind suit, then launched herself at full impulse towards her mentor, dodging and weaving around asteroids and disabled starsuits alike. Blue fire stabbed out from her whenever a pursuing Valkyrie came close enough to warrant caution, but they soon stopped trying.

She found Delta Flyer being pounded by three circling Valkyries, and swiftly broke the wings on two of them before the third could get away. She screamed past the Flyer, almost brushing across the canopy as she shot in pursuit of the other starsuit who had been harassing her mentor. "You're clear, let's get back to the base."

* * *

Kathryn dove behind a console as blue fire washed over her, swearing under her breath. No wonder Gerald had wanted to get out of here. Connected to the main Omega reactor through a series of conduits, a half-circle of biobeds had been set up near the reactor. Two of the biobeds were occupied, the limp figures on them with their heads shrouded in the gleaming surface of a Romulan Mind Probe. The three technicians working the mind probes busied themselves, as a former Valkyrie pilot stood guard, his face a blank mask as he used his starsuit's cannon to keep Admiral Janeway pinned down.

'I can't risk hitting the reactor. If that detonates, everything in a several-million-kilometer radius will be so much radioactive dust, and subspace for light years around will be impassable. I'll have to work around to an angle I can work with.' She peeked out of her concealment, only to duck back just in time to avoid having her head fried. 'Time to call in backup.'

"Janeway to Ensign Thomas. I could use a little help in here."

* * *

Annika heard her beloved's call, her heart aching with the familiar sound of her voice. She saw Ensign Thomas's suited head swivel towards her as a couple Valkyries arrowed towards them. "Go. I can handle them in pairs."

* * *

Lisa nodded her thanks and shot off to the base. She arced around the massive asteroid and plunged in through the blasted-open hanger doors. The familiar buzzing of a pressure-maintenance field sang in her ears for a moment, then she felt the base artificial gravity take hold. She quickly switched her wings to 'hover' and slowly sank to the floor, her gleaming metaclad feet clanking softly as they touched. A quick glance around indicated that the repair crew were working on fixing the hanger doors, another pair working on the main doors to the rest of the base, but that there were no threats nearby. She moved swiftly to the doors to the rest of the base, her wings folding automatically to her back.

As she was about to reach the doors, she was accosted by a technician. "Hey, could you give me a hand here? We need these doors pried out of their sockets. Jammed." She hesitated a second, then decided time was of the essence. Her right arm lifted, the Valkyrie Cannon there assembling itself from components stored in her arm-armor. The tech took one look at the assembling cannon, his eyes bugging out as he ducked and ran.

The resulting shrapnel from the now unjammed door flew every which way, many fragments pinging off Lisa's armor. The tech darted over again, swearing at her. She cut him off with an externally projected, distorted voice, "The doors are unjammed now," and stepped through. She had to reach the admiral soon.

* * *

Janeway tore off the remnants of her uniform jacket and panted softly. The last ten minutes had been strenuous. The Valkyrie had shot at her every time she had emerged even the barest fraction from her hiding spot, but apparently didn't want to move from the point he was currently standing at either. Janeway had tossed her left boot off to the right, then rolled and darted for cover to the left, catching the surprised Valkyrie in a moment's hesitation. Now, she was behind a stack of crates, adjusting the final charge on the compression rifle to a threshold she hoped would be effective on the Valkyrie's armored suit.

At that point, another suit stepped around the corner of the open doorway. The Valkyrie guard turned towards it, and Janeway took her chance, snapping off a precise shot at the exposed side of the Valkyrie's armored torso, where the major shield generators were. The flare of the shields around the starsuit snapped on, then winked out in a dazzling flash. The other Valkyrie suit raised its--no her, this one was slimmer--arm and sighted at the now-shieldless Valkyrie guard's exposed face. The distorted voice of Lisa Thomas sounded in the room. "Cease and desist, Mark. I don't want to hurt you."

For answer, Mark turned his own cannon towards Lisa. Two cannon spat fire at the same instant. Lisa's shield flared in response, but Mark's head exploded in a burst of meaty gore and metal shards, none of which touched the ground. The excess energy from the impact washed out to lick around the sides of the Omega reactor, making Janeway hold her breath until the discharge had expended itself with no visible effects.

The techs, who had scattered at the first sign of a firefight, now peeked out of their hiding places. Janeway's rifle convinced them to come out with hands raised. The petite admiral snarled at them. "Turn off those mind probes and release those poor people."

"A-Alright, m-ma'am, but it'll take a bit for them to be extracted without permanent damage..."

Janeway nodded in acceptance. "Do it gently, but get them out of those things as fast as you can." She turned to the still-standing starsuit, whose faceplate had peeled back to reveal Lisa Thomas's familiar and welcome face, though the look of sadness on her face was uncharacteristic. The little admiral gave her a gentle smile. "Just in time."

"I came as fast as I could, Admiral."

At that moment, a soft siren began to wail.

* * *

Captain Harris sighed softly as she surveyed the wreckage of her shuttlebay. The Starwind pilot had refused to let anyone touch her, or get near her with the equipment needed to remove the armor suit encasing her. She was about to order the security guards to open fire when her commbadge chirped softly. She tapped it and murmured quietly to it in an annoyed tone, "What is it?"

"Sir, Valhalla base has sent an Omega signal, stating their primary core is about fifteen minutes away from catastrophic failure, and warning all vessels able to do so to remove themselves a full light year from the Sol system as fast as they can."

Captain Harris's face, already a pale shade naturally, turned the color of fresh cream when she heard that statement. The Omega Core in the Valhalla Base was the highest concentration of Omega molecules in any part of the galaxy, a full hundred of them being used to power the base itself as well as restock the Valkyrie suits when needed. If those molecules destabilized......

She didn't think anymore, snapping out to the security guard nearest her. "Let me through." The man, well trained, but cautious, stepped aside to let her through, but followed close. Harris marched up to about three meters from the Starwind starsuit, huddled in a corner of the shuttlebay. "Valhalla base's Omega core is about to go critical. I don't think I need to tell you what would happen if it did."

M'Lara's face turned ashen pale inside her suit as she listened to the captain speaking to her. She didn't hear anything else the woman spoke, merely got to her feet and turned toward the closed shuttlebay doors. "Let me help."

* * *

Janeway was working frantically to help stabilize the core as the techs at last got the Valkyrie pilots unhooked from that abominable Mind Probe. The instant they were clear, Lisa snapped off three shots, slagging the insidious devices into molten piles of metal. The techs cried out at the fire, but Lisa ignored them, trying to remember what Gerry had taught her about Omega cores and how to reinitialize the safety procedures.

The techs scattered, leaving as the calm, mechanically precise voice of the computer spoke the time remaining until detonation of the Valhalla core. Lisa looked up only at the sound of running feet, and saw a familiar face gaze back at her from the gleaming silver-and-gold Starwind suit in the doorway. Lisa's eyes burned as she glared at her former friend, and she was about to raise her Valkyrie cannon when M'Lara held up a hand. Lisa paused a moment, giving the traitors her last words.

"I know you hate me, Lisa. Kahless, I hate myself right now. Let me help, help atone for the terrible things I've done. Let me redeem myself."

Lisa paused for a moment, and Janeway glanced between them, unsure if she'd have to use the tuned compression rifle on her betrothed's star pupil to prevent her from becoming a murderer. After a few seconds, Lisa lowered her cannon and spoke in a choked voice. "I won't harm you, M'Lara. I wasn't myself when I chased you, I was mad with grief. Help if you can, we have twelve minutes before the core goes critical."

M'Lara nodded and started towards the Core. She stepped past the two at the consoles and began disconnecting the power feeds. Lisa gave her a puzzled look, but Janeway realized what she was doing and began helping her, her uncovered fingers making light work of the chore that M'Lara's suited hands were having trouble performing. Lisa soon joined them, and together they decoupled the core from its harness and power transfers. The two-meter-diameter sphere gleamed and glittered as it hung suspended by tractor cables from the upper corners of the room.

M'Lara stepped under the sphere and nodded to Lisa, who tapped the control that shut down the tractor cables. The sphere settled slowly onto M'Lara's waiting shoulders, and the Klingon girl grunted as her suit whined to keep the sphere balanced. Lisa moved to help steady the sphere as Kathryn set about implementing the emergency plans that had been set up in the extremely unlikely event that the core destabilized. Now, she was glad that she had insisted that a direct, shielded shaft to the surface be included in the designs for the Core level. It gave them a way to get the core out of the base rapidly, as time was of the essence. "Ten minutes, girls, think you can get it clear in that time?"

"We have to. It's the Federation's only hope." Lisa's voice was grave. She nodded to M'Lara, who gripped the sphere tighter as the last bulkhead opened in the ceiling, the glowing blue ring at the top indicating the pressure-retention field was on. Lisa lifted on her thrusters, palms and heels trailing gold fire as she rose into the shaft. M'Lara didn't bother with the subtle control of her thrusters, instead her wings flaring with ruby light as she rose on impulse drive into the shaft, pushing the several-ton core ahead of her.

Kathryn sealed the bulkhead, waited five seconds, then deactivated the pressure seal. "Good luck, girls. Go with all our hopes and fears."

* * *

Lisa barely had time to get her helmet faceplate back in place before the muffled roaring of decompression grabbed them and shot them out of the sealed shaft like shot from a shotgun. M'Lara grimly clung to the Core as she was shot out, tumbling. Lisa snagged her armored shin to steady her, then the pair shot off through the Trojans. Lisa caught a flash of blue and a return streak of green far off to her left, but she ignored it. She and M'Lara had to get the core clear of the Sol system and into deep space before the Core detonated, otherwise Earth and Earth's system would be lost to warp travel forever.

She deployed both her disruptor cannon and Valkyrie cannon, using all three to blast to atoms any asteroids that got in her and M'Lara's way, the pair rising through the flotsam on wings of steel and fire.

* * *

Annika had disabled almost all of the traitor Valkyries by this point, and was just chasing down the last of them when she spotted two more figures with a glowing-blue sphere. She had monitored the broadcasts, hoping against hope that Kathryn would be able to shut down the core before it went critical, but evidently that was impossible. Now, she gave her silent hope that Lisa and whoever else it was would be able to get the core clear in time. She wasn't in a position to help, with her warp drive currently offline. 'Go, Valkyries. Go with Godspeed.'

* * *

M'Lara's impulse engines were screaming on the edge of overload by the time she emerged from the Trojans. The core was far more massive than its two-meter-diameter would suggest, but her suit and Lisa's should be enough to kick it into warp. An odd thought struck her and she began feeling around on the surface of the sphere. She turned it just so, twisted slightly and gasped slightly in shock as the core's energies were flooded into her own suit. Everything seemed outlined in vivid clarity unmatched by any other experience in her life. M'Lara guessed this was what Klingon ascetics had been looking for on their long vision quests. But more than that, she felt the core's power swelling through her, making her seem invincible, and swifter than anything else in the galaxy. She augmented her warp field, extending it around the sphere held on her shoulders and, snapping her wings back in the attitude of a diving hawk, she shot forward into Warp, Lisa hard on her heels.

* * *

Lisa was amazed as M'Lara shot into warp. She had felt almost sure that the pair of them had to work in unison to get the massive sphere past the light speed limit and into warp, but M'Lara managed it in just a few minutes. Now, the star pilot skipped across the boundary between normal space and the otherworld where speed has no limit, following the Starwind suit of her former friend easily. "Valkyrie 7 to Starwind 5, I'll slip in ahead of you and extend my warp bubble aft. Hopefully that'll increase our top speed."

M'Lara nodded and Lisa suited action to word, her pointed toes within inches of the sphere M'Lara held on her shoulders and extended her own warp bubble behind her. She felt resistance for a moment, until she matched the frequency of M'Lara's field and the two bubbles merged into one, increasing their speed as the two engines strove in tandem to send them hurtling into the ever dark of space. Lisa watched her Warp Factor indicator rise to 9.93 and pass it, hovering about 9.95 as the combined warp field send both of them speeding along faster than the could otherwise. She exulted in the sensations of speed, sensing the universe itself flowing over and around her as she bent its weave and ducked between folds. Never had she pushed her suit so fast, and the blurred sense of sheer velocity brought her heart into her throat. The sheer sensation of being this fast was unlike anything Lisa had ever encountered, and she would remember it for the rest of her life.

* * *

M'Lara counted the minutes as she and her former friend flew hard into the emptiness of interstellar space, heading to the same place they had used to conduct their practice runs in the starsuits. At Warp 9.95, they'd reach the area with a few dozen seconds to spare. But M'Lara had other problems. The power feeding into her suit from the destabilizing core was burning through her suit like fire, and she could feel it as a burning pain running through her skin. She gritted her teeth and clenched tighter on the sphere that was burning her suit out, determined to do the right thing this time, now that she had a chance. She gasped softly and got her voice under control as she opened a channel to Lisa. "Get clear."

She could imagine Lisa turning her head to gaze down at the other starsuit just beneath / behind her. "Get clear? What about you, M'Lara?"

"I'm hooked into the core now, that's why we've been going this fast. I'm not sure I can detach in time, and even if I could, the power is burning my suit's warp drive out. I can't hold this speed much longer, and I don't think you can carry me fast enough to get out of the blast radius even if I did manage to disconnect in time."

Lisa was speechless with shock for a moment. "No. No! I won't let you sacrifice yourself, M'Lara! I already lost Gerry today, I don't want to loose you too!"

"I'm the reason you lost Gerry, Lisa. No, this is the way it has to be. Get Clear, damn you, or we'll both die!"

Lisa's whimpering sob was cut off as she closed the channel. With unconscious grace, she pulled back, breaking out of M'Lara's warp bubble and arcing back the way she had come. Her suit gave a jolt as she was kicked out of the other starsuit's warp bubble, but she quickly regained her attitude control and headed back the way she had come. Her friend had neglected to close the comm channel, and Lisa could hear M'Lara's last words in her ear.

"Alright you bloody bastard, let's see how far we can go before the end." A mingled roar of pain, rage, and defiance sliced across the channels as M'Lara poured every last erg of power she could handle through her warp drive, hurtling across the interstellar distances as the core began its final destructive throes. Lisa looked back, just in time to see the blue-white detonation of the Omega Core, and shot forward as fast as her warp wings would carry her. Her tears were ones of pride, instead of loss.

* * *

AN: Thank you all for being so patient! I'm looking forward to your reviews, so please, don't forget to hit the big green button down there! ^.^ There will be an epiloge to this, but I'm putting the Completed tag up now, to gather more people's attention.


	10. Chapter 10 : Epilogue

Choosers of the Slain

A Star Trek: Voyager Fanfiction

Copyright 2009 by Vyrexuviel

Disclaimer: This story is an original work of fiction set in the Star Trek Universe. All characters from that universe used here are the property of Paramount Pictures. All original characters and story lines are the property of the author.

This story depicts a romantic and lovingly sexual relationship between two women. If this disturbs you, cease reading now.

. . .

Congrats, if your mind explodes reading this, it's your own damn fault now. *roguish wink*

Lots of thanks go to Cygirl1, who helped me polish this, and to G. L. Dartt for her lovely Just Between series that inspired a lot of the characterizations in this fic. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it!

This is set in my Valkyrie timeline, approximately five years after the end of that fic. For background on who these people are and why the timeline is so different, read that fic. If you do, please review it!

Note, there are a few Mary Sues / Larry Stus in this fic, but it was unavoidable. Also, I was inspired with the idea for the starsuit after watching the Iron Man movie, so please don't sue me there either.

Final note: I will be entertaining requests / suggestions for future storylines with this fic, so please review and/or PM me with your suggestions!

* * *

"Push!"

"I AM PUSHING, KAHLESS DAMN YOU!!"

Seven held her wife's hand in her own, quietly trying to encourage B'Elanna without attracting her ire. Her respect for the Doctor had never been higher, as she listend to the string of foul oaths that her beloved spewed at him. The labor had been strained for the past three hours, and B'Elanna had frequently requested a fetal transport to 'get this thing OUT of me!'. Seven nodded slightly at the Doctor's glance, extricating her fingers from B'Elanna's to get her a glass of water.

As she shifted in her padded seat, however, an unexpected flood of wetness down her thighs warned her. "D-Doctor."

"I'm a bit busy, Seven, what is it."

"I believe my water has just broke."

B'Elanna's cries quieted at the news, her wide staring eyes showing her concern, even in the midst of her ordeal. The Doctor quickly summoned nurses, laying the enhanced human back and helping her get comfortable next to her wife. B'Elanna took a few short, quick breaths and managed to gasp, "I-I hope your kid doesn't decide to stick around." Seven smiled at her and gripped her fingers tightly just as a massive contraction made her arch in the bed, crying out softly at the pain.

The two women encouraged each other through the next half hour of doubled labor. Seven actually screamed at B'Elanna to shut up at one point, and, wonder of wonders, she did. At some point, Janeway must have been summoned, and she and Annika were beside the two women, giving them moral support as the labors increased in intensity.

At last, Seven had had enough. She tightened her grip on Annika's and B'Elanna's hands and bore down with all her considerable strength. With a final effort, she felt the child pass out and into the world, just as B'Elanna gave an almighty cry of effort. For a split second there was a pause.

Then, twin wails of discomfort and protest rose and the Doc beamed at the two women. "Congratulations, my dears, you have a fine set of twins."

Seven and B'Elanna turned to each other, each beaming with joy and love. Janeway and Annika exchanged a loving glance over the two women's heads, each reassuring each that someday, they too would know the joys of motherhood.

"So, have you two decided on names yet?"

Seven blinked and B'Elanna's eyes widened in surprised horror. "W-We hadn't gotten that far yet........."

* * *

Halfway to the transporter room, and Janeway still hadn't stopped laughing.

* * *

Aaaand that's it for Choosers! I hope you've enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it! ^^; Now, I've got a special treat. I have no idea what's in store for the intrepid Voyager crew, so I'm willing to entertain any suggestions you might have for such! PM me or drop a review if you've got an idea for something, and don't be shy! ^^; If there's enough good ones, then I may come out of retirement and write another sequel!


	11. Notice

Hey folks!

Not really an update to the story, just letting people know a few things.

1) I'm DONE with this story, but I will entertain suggestions for sequels.

2) If there are loose ends in the story, they're possible plot hooks for sequels, so feel free to invent your own explainations for the people in the circular room.

3) If people want to know how Lisa and the rest of Valkyrie flight faired, you have to TELL ME what you want them to do, since at this point I have NO clue what happened to them. (well, I do have a couple ideas, but they're sorta half formed and take place a good ten years down the road)

4) If you want more of this story, and are bursting with ideas as to where it should go, please, don't hesitate to PM me about them! If you're persistant and annoying enough, and if the ideas strike my fancy, I'll probably get started on a sequel to Choosers pretty soon! ATM, I'm between obsessions, so any really cool idea might get me writing again!

5) I'm more than willing to let someone else write the next story (I prefer reading to writing nine times out of ten), but please run the idea past me first? I'll be more than willing to be a muse/beta to the story!

Just wanted to post that so people would notice it! Thank you for all the reviews and favs, and I hope to please you again someday with my stories!


End file.
